Avatar: Rise of the Dragon Knight
by MontagJ
Summary: A young man is thrown across time and space into a world both familiar and foreign.  He must survive to return home, but a dark shadow looms over time itself to stop him.
1. Those Who Transcend

Yeah, Avatar. Again. Do I really hate this series that much? Anyway, I've seen a lot of stories about people from our continuity/timeline/reality/etc. in the Avatar timeline. Here's my two cents.

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><p>His whole body ached. He tried to move, but every muscle screamed for him to stop.<p>

_What the hell?_

His senses had been dulled and he couldn't see at all. He could feel a faint wind gusting past, and… voices? Muffled sounds. He kept trying to move. The soreness wouldn't subside, but he could feel his body start to respond to his commands.

_Where am I?_

"…nk he …ov…" Muffled speech again. His senses focused. Forcing his eyes open caused him to wince. Light blasted him from all directions. More talking… The words were more distinct now.

"He just twitched again," a young boy's voice reported. Scott? No, it's different…

"Is he all right?" A girl this time. His age maybe? Or a little younger?

"I didn't see him move," another boy, this one older, said skeptically. He felt something… Just something. It was touch. It took all his concentration just to distinguish his senses.

_What's going on?_

"Don't poke him!" the girl scolded. Fantastic.

"How else am I supposed to tell if he's alive or not?" the older boy asked.

"Poking him doesn't help!" the girl snapped back. I agree… "Are you okay?" the girl asked, "Can you hear me?" Her voice was lighter now. Kind and sincere. He tried to respond, but couldn't speak. He forced himself to inhale, then exhale. With a sharp, pain filled grown, he forced his arms underneath him. "He's getting up!" He forced himself to sit up.

Blurry shapes and colors dashed back and forth across his vision. The breeze was stronger than he realized. "Are you okay?" the younger boy asked. No, not really. The many blobs of color became three blobs of color; two blue ones and one orange one.

"Come on!" the older boy demanded, "Speak up already!" The colors started to take on shapes. The more they started to settle, the wider his eyes got.

"Nuh…"

"He's trying to say something!" the girl said. Faces started to form. The clearer the faces, the foggier his thoughts became.

"N-No way…"

"What was that?" the older boy asked. He could see clearly now. He recognized the boy staring back at him. This is impossible!

"No way."

"Are you alright?" the girl asked. He recognized her too! A dream? Is this a dream or…? Could this be some kind of sick joke? "If you're hurt, you can tell us. We'll help you."

_What the hell's going on here?_

…

…

…

"What the what?" The older boy asked. He was Sokka. Sokka had dark brown hair, blue eyes, and was darkly completed. He was one of the blue blobs, wearing a heavy fur coat died blue. His expression was harsh, but also inquisitive. His eyes would quickly dart to any movement.

"Are you hurt?" the girl asked. She was Katara, the other blue blob. She was Sokka's sister, and looked like it. Though, unlike Sokka, Katara had a much softer expression. She seemed genuinely concerned, though there was no way she knew the confused and weak individual before her.

"Wait a minute." He looked himself over. He moved quickly enough to cause his muscles to tense up again and he winced.

"Don't hurt yourself," the younger boy, Aang, said. He looked as young as he sounded, he was only twelve. He wore orange and yellow robes and had a shaved head. On his head and hands were blue arrow tattoos. His grey eyes also shown with concern.

From what he could tell, he was all there. He still had his slick black hair, his thin but strong frame, and he could only assume he had the same brown eyes. He was wearing his blue jeans, black t-shirt, navy blue hooded jacket and running shoes. This was a surprise, but a good one since the last thing he knew he was asleep in his pajamas. This situation was confusing and uncomfortable as it was, it didn't need to be embarrassing too.

"My name's Katara," Katara told him. I was afraid you'd say that. "This is my brother, Sokka. And this is Aang," Katara said friendlily, gesturing to her companions, "He's the Avatar."

"Katara!" Sokka snapped, "He could still be a Fire Nation spy!"

"That'd be news to me," he groaned, "But a little caution might not be a bad idea in the future…"

"What's your name?" Aang asked cheerfully.

His mind was still pretty well scrambled. It took some effort to process the question. Now to answer it… What is my name? He thought hard. "Tom. My name's Tom Rindi."

"Tom Rindi?" Sokka scoffed, "What kind of a name is that?" Katara jabbed Sokka in the side to shut him up.

"Ignore my brother," Katara said, almost more to scold Sokka that to advise Tom, "I think it's a nice name."

"Me too," Aang agreed.

Well isn't that cute, Tom thought sourly, I've introduced myself to cartoon characters! Well, I guess I'm either unconscious, drugged, have lost my mind, or have stepped into someone's bad fanfiction…

"Where are you from, Tom?" Aang asked.

"I doubt you've heard of it," Tom said dismissively.

"Well what nation is it in?" Katara asked.

"Probably haven't heard of that either."

"Oh, come on," Sokka groaned, rolling his eyes, "There are only four nations! Are you from the Earth Kingdom, Water Tribes, Air Nomads, or do I need to throw you off this bison because you're Fire Nation?"

"Sokka!" Katara scolded.

"None of the above," Tom said plainly.

Katara turned back to Tom. "Well you have to live somewhere," she said worriedly, "Or was your home destroyed by the Fire Nation?"

"Look," Tom groaned, rubbing his head, "It's a long story, one I don't fully understand yet." Or rather, one I don't understand at all yet… "More importantly, where am I?"

"You're in the sky!" Sokka reported.

Thanks, Tom thought sarcastically, I noticed.

"We're on our way to Omashu," Aang told Tom.

Much more helpful. Judging from the temperature and those winter coats, that'd mean this should be just before 105. That's a long way from the end. Or does that have nothing to do with it? I can feel, so this isn't a normal dream if it is one at all. "I don't suppose you have any idea of what happened to me…"

"No, sorry," Katara said apologetically.

"We found you unconscious in a field," Aang told Tom, "All you had was this." Aang produced a black backpack. Tom recognized it, it was indeed his.

Tom took the backpack and looked through it. Normally his school backpack filled with books and the like was now filled with light camping gear. Someone, his subconscious or otherwise, was going to great lengths to push him along a particular path. Among the effects in the pack Tom noticed his own personal paperback copy of Niccolo Machiavelli's _The Prince_. No doubt about it. What am I supposed to be here, Tom thought angrily, a Greek chorus?

"Well, if you have nowhere to go," Katara started, "You can travel with us until you can find your way home!"

"That's a great idea!" Aang exclaimed.

"That's a horrible idea!" Sokka exclaimed with just as much vigor, "We don't know anything about this guy! He could still be Fire Nation!"

"I don't mean to impose…"

"Not at all," Katara said happily.

So I _am_ to play the part of this group's Greek chorus. Should I wait this story out, try to accelerate it, or throw these three to the wolves and end this all now? What is this world? How did I get here? How do I get home? I'll have to find out these things for myself… because I have to get home… to her.

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><p>Sort of an odd thing, this. I like it. This is far more experimental than I expected, but I suppose I've never planned a story in this great detail before. I have high hopes for this one. We'll see.<p> 


	2. Those Who Enlighten, part I

I'm really starting to wonder if I'll get these done in time… Yeah, I've had Gundam and Ace Combat on the brain, so I've had a hard time focusing on this in spite of my affinity for it. I'll do my best.

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><p>Two and a half days till arrival at Omashu. That clinches it. If things are happening in real time and not skipping around like in a well edited TV show or movie, it's not a dream. Also, Tom could read the <em>Prince<em>. He had heard somewhere that you can't read in your dreams. That's a step forward, Tom decided, he supposed… But that didn't really tell him what was really going on, only what wasn't. What is this place? What am I supposed to do? He refused to just be an observer.

Though even that seemed to be difficult in its own way. He had to survive. Tom had to keep moving forward. So what was he going to tell these people before him? Tom already knew Aang, Sokka, and Katara. But they weren't people to him. They weren't real to him. And what about who he was to them? He couldn't tell them about his home, or even who he really was. They'd think he was a madman. In several tense conversations (well, tense for him), Tom did his best to dodge questions about himself. No one seemed to notice. Even in spite of Sokka's apparent suspicion, he seemed perfectly content with the non-answers Tom gave when he was in any way the topic of conversation.

Finally, late one day, Appa landed on a showy hilltop. Aang hopped off and beckoned his companions follow. At the top of the hill he presented, "The Earth Kingdom city of Omashu!"

Omashu was a work of art in animation, but breathtaking in person. A magnificent stone bastion atop a cliff, and a mist shroud path to the city gate. It looked like the whole structure was made of fine white limestone, and it had an otherworldly feel about it. The highest of its three peeks were at least as high as the natural peeks of the surrounding mountain range.

"I used to always come here to visit my friend Bumi," Aang explained cheerfully.

"Wow," Katara gasped at the sight, "We don't have cities like this at the South Pole…"

If Katara was surprised, Sokka was awestruck. "They have buildings here that don't melt," he said, his jaw looking like it was about to hit the ground.

"Pictures don't do it justice," Tom said absently. He collected himself and smiled dejectedly. "Maybe I should take a photograph…" he said under his breath.

"You've heard of Omashu before?" Katara asked.

"I've seen drawings." That wasn't a lie, though the drawings were animated. Tom elected to omit that part.

"Well, let's go slowpokes," Aang said with a huge grin on his face, "The real fun is inside the city!" Aang leapt down the hill like he was floating through water. It was the first time Tom saw anything like it (outside of maybe some moon landing stock footage), yet it looked so natural.

"Wait, Aang," Katara called. Aang stopped halfway down the hill and turned back to listen, sliding a little on the snow. "It could be dangerous if people find out you're the Avatar."

"You need a disguise," Sokka agreed.

"So, what am I supposed to do?" Aang asked, unconvinced, "Grow a mustache?"

Turns out the idea to use Appa's fur for the disguise was Sokka's. Tom wasn't really surprised. Aang now had a silly looking ploom of white hair and the kind of mustache you'd see on those novelty glasses. If it looked silly on TV, it looked idiotic in person. Tom hoped that not everything was going to be in extremes like this or this was going to be a loooong hallucination.

"This is so itchy," Aang complained, scratching his head. "How do you live in this stuff?" he asked Appa, who just snorted at him.

"It's amazing what'll fool people anymore…" Tom said, shaking his head.

"You don't think it will work?" Katara asked.

"No, it'll work. Sadly," Tom sighed, "To hell with Newtypes, humans are evolving in reverse." Tom turned on his heel to head toward Omashu, but slipped on a patch of ice and landed hard on his back.

"Why are you falling down, Tom?" Sokka asked after he stopped laughing, "Aang's the one who looks like my grandpa!"

"Well, technically, Aang _is_ 112 years old," Katara said as she helped Tom up.

"Cryogenics doesn't work that way," Tom mumbled to himself.

Aang lifted his staff with his foot and spun it like a circus performer, only to rest on it like a cane. "Now let's get to skippin' young whippersnappers," he said in a forced "old man" voice, "The big city awaits!"

It was a long but easy trek to the city. Though the path was wide and solid, the sheer decent on either side was unnerving at best. Unsurprisingly, the city was even more grand up close.

"You guys are going to love Omashu," Aang said happily, "The people here are the friendliest in the world."

"Rotten cabbages?" an angry voice declared, "What kind of slum do you think this is?" The four children focused on the Earth Kingdom soldier who was at that point destroying a meek-looking man's cart, full of cabbages with Earthbending.

"No, my cabbages!"

"Spectacular…"

"Just keep smiling," Aang advised quietly. The four walked cautiously forward toward the three guards blocking the gate, including the one who apparently hated vegetables.

The Earthbender guard produced a bolder from the ground and hung it over Aang's head, demanding him to state his business. Aang quickly started ranting at the guard and poking him in the chest, which alarmed Sokka and Katara. Fortunately, the guard relented and let them pass after Aang introduced himself as "Bonzoo Pipenpeddlopsokopolis III".

Omashu was arguably even more beautiful within her walls. Ascending houses and shops with green tile rooftops rose among various chutes, and the bustle of a late afternoon city day.

"This is the Omashu delivery system," Aang explained, "Miles and miles of tubes and chutes. Earthbending brings the packages up, and gravity brings them down."

"Great," Sokka scoffed, "So they get their mail on time."

"They _do_ get their mail on time," Aang said mischievously, "but my friend Bumi found a _better_ use for these chutes!"

"I'll meet up with you guys later," Tom said, already starting to turn away.

"You're leaving?" Katara asked.

"I said I'll meet up with you later," Tom said as he started to dash down a flight of stairs.

"But wait!" Aang called, "Don't you wanna hear about…?" Too late, he was already lost to them in the crowds.

Tom had no use for a white-knuckled ride down some silly package delivery system. He had spotted the "Cabbage Merchant" when they entered the city and decided to skip that whole sequence on the delivery system. Tom followed the downtrodden salesman as he made his way to his stand where he knew Aang and his friends would reappear. Now that he knew where he needed to be, he looked around in the surrounding area. Quickly, he found what he was looking for: a tailor. Tom walked up to the man minding the store and produced a quarter that he had fished out of his pocket.

"I-is that a silver piece?" the store clerk asked.

"Only if it buys me a new set of clothes," Tom replied.

"But of course, but of course," the man said quickly. He ran around the desk and started measuring Tom's arm.

"That won't be necessary," Tom told the man, "Just give me something that fits and lets me move around freely."

"B-b-but for a-"

"I need to be somewhere."

That seemed to be enough for the tailor, who ran back behind the desk and produced a simple green shirt, a matching pair of pants and brown shoes. The only thing distinguishing about the outfit was the large Earth Kingdom insignia on the front of the shirt.

"Will this do?" the still stunned merchant asked.

"That's perfect."

"There's a changing room in the back," the merchant said, pointing.

Tom changed, put his normal clothes in his backpack, and tossed the quarter to the tailor on his way out. That was easier than expected, Tom thought. Tom had decided it would be better not to stand out. Now he blended in just fine. He returned to the cabbage stand and, hearing approaching crashing, pulled the Cabbage Merchant aside. "You're going to want to step back."

"Why?" the unfortunate man asked. His stand was then crushed by one of the delivery carts.

Aang looked up at the guards from atop the pile of wreckage. "Two cabbages, please?"

Aang, Sokka, and Katara wear lead in by the guards toward the throne. Tom followed on his own just behind them. The elderly king eyed Aang and Tom, neither of whom seemed to notice. The guards sat Aang, Sokka, and Katara down, leaving Tom to stand off to the side near them. The guard that arrested them spoke to the king.

"Your majesty, these juveniles were arrested for vandalism, traveling under false pretenses, and malicious destruction of cabbages." The guard turned to Tom, "This young man claims to be their companion and asked to be brought along."

"Off with their heads!" the frantic merchant flailed, "One for each head of cabbage!"

"Silence!" the guard ordered, "Only the king can pass down judgment. What is your judgment, sire?"

The king though hard as he looked at the three accused. "Throw them…" the king started, drawing everyone but Tom's attention, "…a feast." Again, everyone reacted but Tom. A lavish meal was prepared on a long dinner table. The four children sat at the far end from the king's seat, who was at the time standing behind them. The king chuckled. "The people in my city have grown fat from too many feasts," he said, "So I hope you like your chicken with no skin."

"Thanks, but I don't eat meat," Aang said politely.

"How about you?" the king asked, turning to Sokka, "I bet you like meat." The king shoved a chicken leg into Sokka's mouth, which he didn't mind when he started chewing on it.

"Is it just me," Katara asked quietly, "or is this king's crown a little crooked?" She gestured teasingly.

"You sure are a strange bunch," the king said as he took his seat at the other end of the table. "Especially you," the old man said, pointing a bony finger at Tom. "You're different. Almost as if you're from a whole other world…"

Tom flinched, but only for a minute. The two eyed each other wearily. Tom already knew not to underestimate **this** man. But… What is it that you know…?

The king changed the subject. "So tell me young bald one, where are you from?"

"I'm from…" Aang thought, "Kangaroo Island!"

"Oh, Kangaroo Island, eh?" the king asked, "I hear that place is really hopping!"

…

Sokka's laughter broke the deafening silence. When he noticed the looks he was getting he shrugged. "What? It was pretty funny…"

The king yawned. "All these good jokes are making me tired. Guess it's time to hit the hay." As he started to get up, the king reached into the sleeve of his green robe. He then tossed a chicken leg at Aang, who caught it in a pocket of wind he produced. "There's an Airbender in our presence. And not just any Airbender, the Avatar!" Aang let the chicken leg drop onto his plate, but this was obviously a useless gesture. "Now, what do you have to say for yourself, Mr. Pipenpeddlopsokopolis?"

"Okay, you caught me," Aang said, standing up, "I'm the Avatar… Doing my Avatar thing, keeping the world safe." He lifted the tablecloth, "Everything checks out. No Firebenders here." He put his hands on Sokka and Katara's shoulders to get them up, "Good work everyone! (Let's go, Tom.) Love each other, respect all life, and _don't_ run with your spears!" Aang, Sokka, and Katara backed toward the exit, "We'll see you next time! (Come **on**, Tom!)" Unfortunately, the guards stopped them. Tom, knowing that would happen, never left his seat.

"You can't keep us here," Katara asserted, "Let us leave!"

"Lettuce leaf?" the king asked as he munched on one.

"We're in serious trouble," Sokka whispered, "This guy is nuts!"

"Tomorrow the Avatar will face three deadly challenges," the king said ominously. "But for now, the guards will show you to your chamber."

"My liege," the guard next to the king asked, "do you mean the good chamber or the bad chamber?"

"The newly refurbished chamber," the king answered.

"Wait, which one are we talking about?"

"The one that used to be the bad chamber… until the recent refurbishing, that is. Of… course, we've been calling it 'the new chamber' but we really should number them. Um… Take them to the refurbished chamber that was once bad!" The king then turned to Tom. "Will you be going with them?"

"I don't see why not…" Tom started on his way out.

"You look after those kids now," the king said.

"They don't need help form the likes of me…"

The king snickered, "We'll see about that, won't we? The world can be full of surprises!"

Tom flinched again, but he kept walking.

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><p>Gundam influence? What Gun- Yeah, I like Gundam, get over it!<p>

I'm thinking I'll have to split this chapter into two. This is really fun for me, but really hard and it's really late (or rather, early). Will I get this out in time? No one cares but me, but I'm gonna try!


	3. Those Who Enlighten, part II

Can I finish this in time? Will I write a decent story? Does anyone care? At all? No, probably not. Well, enough stalling. Time to get back to work!

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><p>The four kids were briskly shoved into "the newly refurbished chamber". The door behind them was shut with Earthbending, sealing them in. They looked around at the nicely decorated room.<p>

"This is a prison cell?" Katara asked, "But it's so nice."

"He did say it was newly refurbished," Aang said.

"Nice or not, we're prisoners!" Sokka pointed out.

"I wonder what these challenges are going to be…" Aang said, visibly nervous.

"We're not sticking around to find out," Katara said, "There's got to be some way out."

"Not unless one of you remembered your C-4 or Ampho," Tom said dismissively. He strolled lightly over to one corner, dropped his pack next to him and sat down, wedged into a little nook.

"What about the air vents?" Aang asked excitedly, pointing to the holes in the upper part of the wall only a few inches wide.

"It you think we can fit through there," Sokka said, "you're crazier than that king!"

"We can't," Aang agreed, "but Momo can!"

Momo however, had roughly doubled in size at dinner and was loafing on one of the beds. Aang tried to push Momo through the vent, but he was just too big. Tom had to stop himself from making jokes he hoped his companions were too young to get.

"Go on, boy!" Aang encouraged, "Get Appa!" Soon though, Aang had to give up.

"Eh, how was Appa supposed to save us anyway?" Sokka asked dejectedly.

"Appa is a ten ton flying bison," Aang responded, "I think he could figure something out."

"Well, no point in arguing about it now," Katara said, "Looks like you'll need it for tomorrow." Katara then noticed Tom in the corner, eyes closed. "Oh, no. There are only three beds."

"Don't worry about me," Tom said, sounding as if he was already half asleep.

"Are you sure?" Katara asked. Tom didn't answer. In the about three days since she met him, Katara had learned one thing about Tom; he slept like the dead.

One of the guards woke Tom up the next morning. He, Katara, and Sokka were led down hallway after hallway. Finally, they were brought to a dead end. Tom knew where they were. He had had enough of being yanked and jerked around by whatever the hell was doing this! It was time to change the script.

The guards grabbed the arms of the three prisoners and the rock wall opened into the throne room.

"…So I will give your friends some special souvenirs," the king finished saying to Aang.

"I've got a better idea!" Tom declared as he through the guard holding him hard into the ground. "I think we'll just skip the next part!" Tom shot forward through the air, leg swinging around with the intent to slam into the now purple-clad king's head. However, instead of his target, Tom's leg slammed into a suddenly formed rock wall. Immediately after, a small stone pillar slammed into his chest. He flew back just as far and as fast as his charge and landed hard.

"A warrior who fights without weapons or bending," the king noted, "That's rare. But you're outnumbered and you've lost the element of surprise. It looks like no one will be skipping anything."

"I-I think he broke my arm!" the guard Tom had attacked cried.

"Oh, quit your bellyaching!" the king said, waving the man off, "He barely touched you!" The king looked to Tom, still on the floor, "For such a fierce warrior, you sure were ginger with my guard."

"What can I say?" Tom strained to say, "I'm just a big bleeding heart…"

"Well, as I was saying," the king continued, "Those three rings…" he looked down and saw that Tom had, at some point, crushed the ring intended for him, "Those _two_ rings are made of pure genomite, also known as the creeping crystal. It's a crystal that grows remarkably fast." Even during this explanation, the rings on Katara and Sokka's hands had already changed shape and were fixed to their hands. "By nightfall your friends will be completely covered in it," the king continued to explain, "Terrible fate, really. I can stop it, but only if you cooperate."

"It's already creeping!" Sokka gasped.

Aang turned to the king, "I'll do what you want."

As Aang was led away by the king and his guards, Sokka and Katara helped Tom up.

"Some help you were," Sokka scoffed.

"Didn't see you do anything," Tom replied lightly.

"This isn't the time to be fighting," Katara scolded, "We have to follow them."

After a long walk, long enough for the crystals to cover the Water Tribe siblings' entire forearms, the group entered a cave covered in stalactites and stalagmites. In the center of the cave was a waterfall battering a ladder leading to a key on a long chain. Tom watched the scene unfold dispassionately, only bothering to look out of the corner of his eye.

"It seems I've lost my lunch box key and I'm hungry," the king said mockingly. "Oh, there it is!" he said pointing to the key shrouded behind the torrential waters. "Would you mind fetching it for me?"

Aang tried several methods to get to the key, all of which ended in him being spat out of the waterfall and nearly impaled on the spikes below, all the while being mocked and jeered by the king.

"Come on, Aang," Tom said aloud, knowing Aang couldn't hear him. He had seen nearly a dozen tries and had lost his patience. "Someone like you can get that key without even touching the water." As if on cue, Aang cut the waterfall with a blast of wind and caught the chain with a stalagmite he had broken off and thrown. The stone spear imbedded itself in the wall above the king, leaving the key to dangle right in front of his wrinkled face.

"There," Aang said crossly, "enjoy your lunch! I want my friends back **now**!"

"Uhp, not yet," the king said, "I need help with another matter. It seems I've lost my pet Flopsy."

"Okay, found him." Aang said a while later in a bright, open area, sunken down from the rest of the room (far from the cave with the waterfall). The creature Aang found looked like a white rabbit with comically long ears.

"Bring him to me!" the king demanded, "Daddy wants a kiss from Flopsy!"

As Aang approached the rabbit-looking thing, a similar looking animal approached from behind. This one, however, was about the size of an elephant, had long horns and fangs, and moved like a gorilla. Aang noticed its approach when it landed with a thud. A "Tom and Jerry" style chase began; Aang chasing the rabbit, and he being chased by the monster. The rabbit ducked into a whole in the wall and Aang started to fish for it, but as the monster approached, he was struck with a realization.

"Wait a minute…" Aang turned to face the stampeding monster, "Flopsy?" The beast stopped, waging its short tail like a dog, then proceeded to hug and lick Aang. "Flopsy!" Aang cheered as he pet the now much less threatening creature's head.

The king whistled and the beast ran towards him, vaulting up the wall to greet him. Flopsy rolled over and let the king rub his belly, shaking his leg, again, like a dog. "Oh, that's a good boy," the king cooed, "Yes, who has a soft belly?"

Aang hoped onto the wall by his friends. "Guys, are you okay?" he asked, worried about Sokka and Katara being encased in crystals and Tom's wound from before.

"I'll live," Tom said passively, though a little strain could be heard in his voice.

"And other than the crystals slowly encasing my entire body," Katara said cheerfully, "We're doing great!" Just then, the crystals grew enough to unbalance Sokka, causing him to fall over. Aang took that as his cue and approached the king.

"Come on, I'm ready for the next challenge."

Finally, they were led to an underground arena. "Your final test is a duel," the king said, "and as a special treat, you may choose your opponent." Two strong-looking men brimming with weapons appeared next to the king. Neither looked particularly friendly… "Point and choose."

"He'll point at the king," Tom said quietly.

"Hey, that's a good idea!" Sokka said.

"No it's not," Tom continued in a low tone, "He'll be the strongest of the three." That was more than having seen this before. Tom predicted that would happen even before he saw the episode on TV. He only hoped he would have been smart enough to predict that even if this wasn't all just a TV show to him.

"I choose," Aang paused, "you!" he finished, pointing at the king.

The king smiled, "Wrong choice!" The king stood up straighter, discarded his robe, and reveled a body solid as stone. With but a flick of his heel he catapulted Aang into the arena and leapt after him. "You thought I was a frail old man, but I'm the most powerful Earthbender you'll ever see!"

"Can I fight the guy with the axe instead?" Aang asked.

"There are no take-backsies in _my_ kingdom," the king answered, "You might need this." One of the guards on a balcony threw Aang his staff, which had been taken before the challenges started.

"You should have picked Sokka," Tom called from one of the balconies to Aang. Aang wasn't really listening, as he was busy dodging boulders sent at him by the king.

"Why me?" Sokka demanded.

"You're easy to beat," Tom said lightly. He tapped Sokka's crystal cocoon, causing him to fall over again.

Aang dodged another volley of rocks. "Typical Airbender tactic;" the king complained "avoid and evade. I'd hoped the Avatar would be a little less predictable!" He threw another rock, "Don't you have any surprises for me? Sooner or later, you'll have to strike back!" As the fight continued the king kept mocking Aang. Though with time, Aang's attacks did get more creative. Finally, the king lifted a section of the balcony about the size of a big rig cab from the ground with great effort. In response, Aang created a wall of spiraling air. When the giant mass of rock was thrown, it spun around and hurtled back at the king. He shattered the rock before it could hit him allowing Aang to thrust his staff under the king's chin. It wasn't quite a victory though, as the king had one last surprise; a bolder hanging over both of them. They both knew to call it a draw. "Well done, Avatar," the king said happily, "You fight with much fire in your heart."

The king disappeared into the ground and reappeared on the balcony (one that he didn't destroy) where Tom, Sokka, and Katara were watching from. When Aang joined them the king spoke again. "You have passed all my tests," he said, "Now you must answer one question."

"That's not fair!" Aang returned, "You said you would release my friends if I finished your tests."

"Oh, but what's the point of tests if you don't learn anything?" the king asked. "Answer this one question and I will set your friends free: What… is my name?" The king started to walk away, "From the looks of your friends, I'd say you only have a few minutes."

"How am I supposed to know his name?" Aang asked his friends.

"Think about the challenges," Katara suggested, "Maybe it's some kind of riddle." Tom preferred the riddle of the sphinx… Or the riddle from Puzzle Box in _Yu-Gi-Oh!_... Or the riddle about evil in _Code Geass_ or- I know a lot of riddles, don't I, Tom thought.

"I got it!" Sokka exclaimed.

"His name isn't Rocky," Tom cut him off.

"How'd you know I was going to say that?"

"Okay," Aang said, "So back to the challenges. I got a key from a waterfall, I saved his pet, and I had a duel."

"And what did you learn?" Katara asked quickly.

"Well, everything was different than I expected," Aang thought out loud.

"And…?" Katara asked tensely as the crystals continued to grow.

Well, they weren't straightforward," Aang continued, "To solve each test, I had to think differently than I usually would."

Tom didn't notice the pause because he was counting all the good riddles he knew. From what he saw on TV, Aang should have figured out the king's name by now, but he hadn't.

Tom sighed, "You're thinking too hard. You already know who he is."

"Wait," Sokka asked, "You already know who he is?"

"Why don't you just tell us?" Katara asked.

"I already tried to skip this when I attacked that guy," Tom explained, "If I just gave Aang the answer, what would be the point of all this?"

"B-but-"

"Don't worry," Aang said with a smile, "I know his name. Thanks Tom."

They made their way back to the throne room as quickly as they could under the circumstances. Aang stood before the king with a joyful grin. "I solved the question the same way I solved the challenges," Aang explained to the king. "Like you said a long time ago, I had to open my brain to the possibilities." The king started giggling and snorting, just like an old friend of Aang's. "Bumi, you're a mad genius!" Aang ran to embrace his old friend.

"Oh, Aang," Bumi said tearfully, "You haven't changed a bit… littrally!"

"Uh, over here!" Katara called, only her face still visible behind the crystals.

"A little help?" Sokka asked. He was only about half a face!

Bumi made a simple gesture, shattering both crystal prisons. "Genomite is made of rock candy," he took a bite, "Delicious!"

"Not how rock candy works either," Tom mumbled to himself.

"So this crazy king," Katara asked, "Is your old friend Bumi?"

"Who are you calling old? … Okay, I'm old."

"Why did you do all this," Sokka asked, "instead of just telling Aang who you were?"

"First of all, it's fun messing with people," Bumi snickered (and Tom couldn't help but agree), "But I do have a reason. Aang, you have a difficult task ahead. The world has changed in the hundred years you've been gone. It's the duty of the Avatar to restore balance to the world by defeating Fire Lord Ozai. You have much to learn. You must master the four elements and confront the Fire Lord. And when you do," Bumi smiled, "I hope you will think like a mad genius!" Bumi then looked to Aang's friends. "And it looks like you're in good hands. You'll need your friends to help you defeat the Fire Nation."

"If you don't mind," Tom spoke up, "I have a question for you."

"Ask away," Bumi said cheerfully.

"Do you know who _I_ am?"

Bumi sighed. "I'm afraid not. I can only say one thing for certain; you are different from anyone I've ever met in all my years. I can tell you're special. Aang will be needing your help more than anyone else's I suspect."

"You'd be surprised," Tom sighed.

"Don't be sure _you_ won't be surprised," Bumi warned, "There is more to this world than meets the eye."

Tom smiled. "Thanks," he said, "I think I needed to hear that." I shouldn't get arrogant, or assume I know what'll happen next. My mere presence could change things in ways I'd never expect. I knew I should have watched _The Butterfly Effect_ when I had the chance…

"Thank you for your wisdom," Aang said politely and bowed, "But before we leave, _I_ have a challenge for _you_."

Tom, Katara, and Sokka watched Aang and Bumi rocket down the mail chutes and carnie right into a very unfortunate merchant's stand. Fine, Tom decided, I've made my decision. I'll say with these people. And I **will** return home. But I'm going to do it _my way_…

* * *

><p>I DID IT! Just in time, too. Consider this my birthday present from me to you (assuming anyone reads this). That also means to most of you I am now officially old. Whatever…<p>

This continues to be a totally different story from my usual work, but the funny thing is, when I see a story shaping in my head it usually looks more like this. Since I tend to have a lot of characters though, I really don't get to explore a single character like this. Whaddayaknow, I try to write my own Heero Yuy in Avatar and I end up with Wing lite… What Gundam influence?

And there was no way I could do two chapters like these last two combine. I may end up splitting up most of them, but that works for me. Tell me what you think as long as you've read the A/N on Duel 26. …Maybe I should just put that no my profile. Wait, that would imply anyone reads that.


	4. Those Who Liberate

I've been developing a bad habit of waiting 'till the last minute to start my work. I'm going to try to break that habit and get a few chapters done in rapid succession. This next chapter will be hard to write since it's pretty specifically about Katara, but I'll do my best to give Tom business.

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><p>Tom and Sokka returned to the campsite with their bags looking as empty as when they left. It was the first time Tom had been camping for more than a few days, but he was taking to it well. The group made good time riding on Appa, and the lifestyle was easy. They were beginning to run out of food. They had bought a good deal in Omashu, but in just a few weeks, it began to dwindle. More and more the children had to live off the land. Sometimes it was easy. Sometimes the land had little to yield. That brings us back to the half empty bags.<p>

Aang hopped off the tree limb he was resting on when he saw the other half of their party approach. "What's for dinner?" he asked lightly.

"We've got a few options," Sokka started as he opened his bag.

Tom sighed, defeat in his breath. "No we don't," he admitted sadly. "We could only find a handful or two of nuts."

"We do too have options!" Sokka protested. He started fishing into his bag to pull out his "bounty". "We've got round nuts, and some kind of oval-shaped nuts, and some rock-shaped nuts…" When he produced the "rock-shaped nut", he examined it for a moment. "…That may just be rocks," he admitted, tossing the pebble over his shoulder. "Dig in."

Katara looked to Aang for a moment. Of course, he was at a loss too. "Seriously, what else you got?" she asked, this time looking to Tom.

"Like I said," Tom started sadly, "That's all there is to be found. Maybe if you didn't have to feed me too…"

"Don't think that way," Katara assured, "You're our friend, what else could we do?"

"Yeah," Aang agreed, "You've helped us out plenty of times already. You told us about those mushrooms, remember? We'll figure something out."

"Hello?" Sokka emphasized, "What about my nuts." Once again, Tom had to stifle an inappropriate joke…

While they were trying to decide what to do with "Sokka's nuts", no one noticed the group's mascot, Momo, playing with the discarded pebble. With the uncanny timing only an animated television show could produce, as soon as the little lemur struck the pebble on a nearby stone, a rumbling crash rang out.

"What was that?" Sokka gasped. Once again, the very moment Momo dropped his pebble on the rock, another boom echoed.

"It's coming from over there!" Aang exclaimed as he ran towards the noise, Katara close behind.

"Shouldn't we run away from huge booms," Sokka asked, "Not toward them?"

"One would think," Tom moaned smoothly as he followed. He had lost track of where the story was in the weeks the group had been camping. He was wearing his sweat jacket and blue jeans instead of the Earth Kingdom clothes he had bought in Omashu and now he was going into a populated town. Sure, his companions were just as conspicuous, but that wasn't much consolation. He thought about changing, but there was no real point in holding up the party for such a trivial reason as "fashion".

The party ducked behind a thick tree root exposed by a nearly empty riverbed. They observed as young man in green clothes levitating and throwing rocks from one tall bank to the other.

"An earthbender," Katara observed.

"Let's go meet him!" Aang suggested with his standard exuberance.

"He looks dangerous, so we'd better approach cautiously," Sokka warned. Katara had, however, already made half the way to the stranger and called out to him.

"Hello there!" she called, "I'm Katara. What's your name?"

The youth stopped mid motion upon realizing he was being watched. He broke out in a full run down the riverbed and blocked it behind him with a rockslide.

"Nice to meet you!" Aang called to the already departed stranger.

"I just wanted to say hi…" Katara thought out loud.

"You came out of nowhere and startled him," Tom pointed out, "His country is at war, remember. It's no wonder he ran…" He already knew why the boy ran, but he had been trying to impart some good sense on these people. Maybe Tom could avoid whole episodes worth of the TV show if he just explained the Aesop's Fable morel the kids were supposed to learn from it. It was worth a shot. That said, he had to be careful not to go and predict the future. That would probably pose a lot of questions. That was something to be avoided. Especially questions like "How did you know that?"

"Hey," Aang realized aloud, "That guy's gotta be running somewhere. Maybe we're near a village! And I bet that village has a market!"

"Which means no nuts for dinner!" Katara finished happily. The two of them ran off with Tom keeping a steady, relaxed pace behind them.

"Hey!" Sokka complained, "I worked hard to get those nuts." When even Momo brushed past, Sokka conceded. "Yeah, I hate 'em too…"

The town was clean and welcoming, something Tom wouldn't have guessed from the episode. Food was fairly easy to come by, if a little pricy. Effect of the occupation, perhaps? King Bumi had given Aang a substantial supply of money weeks earlier and for the first time, the group was putting it to use. Aang managed to collect a hat, just as Katara spotted the earthbender from before. Just like clockwork, the scenes were playing out, just with an extra body. It wasn't time to shake things up. Not just yet…

Katara followed the boy, Haru, into a shop he strolled into and addressed him as an older woman, his mother scolded him for being late. "Hey, you're that kid. Why did you run away before?"

"You must have me confused for some other kid," he said nervously as Tom, Aang, and Sokka appeared in the doorway.

"No she doesn't," Aang said surely, "We saw you earthbending."

The two gasped. Haru's mother hurried Tom and Sokka inside and shut the door and window of the shop tightly. "They saw you doing what?" she asked harshly.

"They're crazy, Mom," he said in his defense, "Just look at how they're dressed!" And there it is, Tom thought. In his clothes, what character in this story wouldn't say the same? For all my effort to alter the script, I'm falling right in line.

"You know how dangerous that is," Haru's mother scolded, "You know what would happen if _they_ caught you earthbending!"

Just then there was a brisk rapping on the door. Sokka peeked through the drawn shades of the window. "Fire Nation," he warned, "Act natural."

When the officer entered, Aang, Katara, Sokka, and Haru had all taken postcard poses and frozen in place. Tom shook his head in disbelief. They really do this…? Once the lid of the barrel Aang was resting on gave way, Tom covered his face in shame for knowing them.

"What do you want?" Haru's mother demanded, "I've already paid you this week!"

"The tax just doubled," the officer grinned. He builds a ball of lose fire between his palms. "Fire can be so hard to control," he informed as he put out the flame.

Haru's mother turned over a handful of coins. The officer looked them over snidely. "You can keep the copper ones," he said as he dropped the some of the coins on the ground and left.

"Nice guy," Sokka observed. "How long has the Fire Nation been here?"

"Five years," Haru's mother said sadly. "Fire Lord Ozai uses our town's coal mines to fuel his ships."

"And here I though relying on foreign energy was bad for the economy," Tom said under his breath.

"They're thugs!" Haru snapped, "They steal from us. And everyone is too much of a coward to do anything about it!"

"Quiet, Haru!" his mother scolded again.

"But Haru's an earthbender," Katara said, "He can help."

"Earthbending is forbidden," his mother explained, "He must never use his abilities."

"How can you say that?" Katara asked, "Asking Haru not to earthbend is like asking me not to waterbend. It's a part of who we are."

"You don't understand…"

"I understand Haru could help you fight back," Katara said strongly, "What could the Fire Nation do to you that they hadn't done already?"

They could take Haru away!" his mother said tearfully, "Like they did his father…"

"Or they could kill you." Everyone turned to Tom, arms crossed and leaning against one of the walls. He had stayed well out of the conversation till now. "Keeping the earthbenders in your village alive means you can't fight back directly, even if you wanted too. It's a good strategy."

"Tom!" Katara gasped, shocked by her friend's blunt comment.

"Your goal is to survive," Tom continued, "Right now, you don't have any reason to fight back."

"That's not true!" Haru objected.

"That's enough, Haru," his mother said, "Maybe your right. But that doesn't change anything. We're helpless."

"There is more than one way to fight an enemy," Tom said mysteriously.

"What do you mean?"

"Maybe the soldiers here will get…" Tom paused as he looked for the words, "A run of 'bad luck'."

"What do you mean 'bad luck'?" Haru asked.

"Maybe one of them loses his helmet," Tom started, "Or a wagon wheel breaks down in the wrong part of town." Tom could see the gears turning, but no one had caught his drift yet. "But whatever you do, the longer you accept their control, the harder it'll be to break their yoke. I'd act if I were you."

Haru's mother was able to find her smile. "I wish I had your confidence, young man…"

The group was invited to stay the night in Haru's family barn. Tom changed, than tried to get to sleep as quickly as possible. Part of him wanted to stop Haru from being arrested. He thought about intercepting the old man that would turn Haru in as an earthbender, or attacking the soldiers that would arrest him. But the shipyard was a better target. So it all happened as it should. Haru saved the old man, the old man turned him in, and Katara decided to save him by getting herself arrested. Tom was always impressed with the voice acting of Avatar. Being able to become a poor actor on cue for the scene where Katara was arrested isn't easy. But now he was living it and knew the characters as people. The performance was embarrassing to watch. Katara and Sokka definitely needed acting lessons… Fortunately, Tom was there to make sure Aang didn't miss his cue like he was supposed to. Katara was taken to the rig and then more waiting. That night they returned to collect Katara. And of course, she demanded they stay to help the earthbenders. Now's where it begins.

"There are only two good options to get the earthbenders off the rig," Tom said as the four huddled behind some crates of supplies, "We could ferry a few at a time out on Appa…"

"That's a great idea!" Aang said as loudly as he dared.

"…But," Tom emphasized, "That would take far too long."

"So what's your other idea?" Katara asked.

"Try to sabotage the rig. Make it too costly and difficult to continue using."

"And if they don't notice," Aang realized, "they'll think it's all bad luck."

"…_But_, that'll take even longer."

"So you've got nothing," Sokka sighed.

"Not exactly," Tom said. "If we can't do this the smart, safe, methodical way, we need to get everyone off at once. Make a big show of it. Shock and Awe!"

"That's way too risky," Sokka shook his head, "We can't take on this whole rig alone."

"I tried talking the earthbenders into fighting back, but it didn't work," Katara said sadly. He face grew determined as she thought about the earthbenders. "If only there was a way to help them help themselves."

"For that they'd need something to bend," Sokka suggested.

"This rig is anchored to the seafloor," Tom said, "The earthbenders can sink the platforms and escape on the boats in the panic."

"But that still leaves us fighting every firebender and soldier on the rig as they try to get to the boats too," Sokka shook his head. Tom hadn't thought of that. So much for that plan. Sokka tried to come up with something, but was stumped. "We need the earthbenders help," he finally settled on.

"But this entire place is made of metal," Katara ran her hand across the smooth, cold floor.

Aang looked around for inspiration. "No it's not," he realized, "Look at the smoke. I bet they're burning coal. In other words… earth."

Good thing the Fire Nation didn't use oil yet…

While Aang, Katara, and Sokka prepared to get the coal to the earthbenders, Tom went about sabotaging everything he could on the rig. He damaged pipes and other hardware so the mechanics couldn't get a wink of sleep. He broke into the armory and dumped many of the weapons into the sea. The ones he couldn't he damaged or weakened any way he could. And he set up tripwires and other crude traps to delay reinforcements when the riot started. As the sun started to peek above the horizon, Tom found a hiding place in range of the courtyard that was about to become a battlefield.

Just as the Fire Nation soldiers were about to close on the Water Tribe siblings, a column of coal burst up from the vent they were gathered around and landed in a heap. Aang, covered in coal dust appeared soon after with Momo in toe.

Katara sprinted up the molehill of coal and shouted, "Here's your chance, earthbenders! Take it! Your fate is in your own hands!" Haru started to step forward, but his father, Tyro, stopped him. No one else even thought about joining Katara.

The warden laughed wickedly at Katara as she realized no one was going to help her. "Foolish girl," he mocked, "You thought a few inspirational words and some coal would change these people?" Tom never paid this scene much attention while watching the show other than to be amused that Mr. Sulu was voicing the warden, but this was different. Maybe it was because he was there and could do something about it, or maybe it was because Katara was a personal friend now, but it took all his self-control not to attack the warden right then. "Look at these blank, hopeless faces. Their spirits were broken a long time ago! Oh, but you still believe in them. How sweet." Tom had to hold himself back again. "They're a waist of your energy, little girl. You failed."

Just as the warden turned to walk away, a chunk of coal pegged him right in the back of his head. It was obvious where the piece had come from. Haru was twirling small bits of coal above his palm. The warden retaliated with a blast of fire, but it was intercepted by a wall of coal produced by Tyro.

"Show no mercy!" the warden ordered, as he and the four other firebenders attacked together. Now Tyro was joined by four more earthbenders in rebellion.

"For the Earth Kingdom…" he said, straining to reclaim his atrophied skills, "Attack!"

Soon the battle was on. All the earthbenders were throwing coal against their captors. The fight was chaotic, but thanks to Tom's prep work, most of the soldiers and firebenders couldn't get to the platform. "Get those kids!" the warden cried, "They're the-" Suddenly, Tom had appeared behind him. He kicked out the back of the warden's knee and put him in a headlock when he dropped.

"Eh, stuff it Tekai," Tom mocked as his grip tightened.

"Wait," the warden said suddenly, "How do you know my name?"

…

"Oh, my god," Tom gasped, "Your name is actually George Tekai? That's hilarious!"

"N-no, just Tekai…"

"Oh. Well that's still pretty fu- Uh!" While Tom wasn't paying attention, the warden buried his elbow into his side, forcing Tom to release his grip. "This battle is over. They have a reason to fight."

"We shall see about that, boy."

The warden, being able to shoot fire from his extremities, clearly had the advantage, but Tom held his own, thanks in no small part to his superior martial arts skill. He couldn't do much besides keep Mr. Sulu busy since getting within arm's reach was a guaranteed burn. Luckily, Tom was able to separate himself from the fight when a single solid chunk of coal bigger than a basket ball sailed between them. The impact shook the rig and opened a huge hole in one of the walls. The prisoners made a mad dash for the new exit.

To stop the firebenders from attacking the fleeing prisoners, Aang made a sort of air rail gun and aimed it at the warden. "Throw me some coal!" he ordered. Sokka, Tom, and Katara arrived at his side with handfuls. Sokka, delivering the most, created a shotgun blast of coal that knocked all the firebenders off their feet.

A bed of coal formed under the warden and his firebenders and carried them over the rail. "Please," the warden begged "I can't swim!"

"Don't worry," Tyro said unsympathetically, "I hear cowards float." With that, the coal fell away and the warden and other firebenders dropped into the sea.

As the prisoners sailed away on captured ships, Tom was about to suggest they sink the rig. Suddenly his heart sank. He turned around to find Katara. Her back was turned, but he could still see that her necklace was gone. It was too late to go back, the rig would have been locked down. There was no way they could sink it now. Katara would never forgive him if he destroyed her mother's necklace.

And honestly, he probably wouldn't have forgiven himself.

* * *

><p>This time my head start was eaten by the difficulty and length of the chapter, not laziness. So that's good I guess. Also, not really any Gundam influences. More like Burn Notice meets Ace Combat. Wow. I have some weird influences…<p> 


	5. Those Who Destroy

I've received the very legitimate criticism that Tom really hasn't done anything yet. And yeah, that's kind of true, but the problem is with pacing. Not the story pacing, the pacing of my updates. If you're not reading this in real time, this won't mean anything to you, but I've got seven stories I'm working on. It takes me a while to get back around to any one story. It's a problem with releasing a story chapter by chapter like this, but I'm doing my best to be prompt. If I may shamelessly plug my other stories, they're there if you get bored waiting for me. Not that anyone has the time to be worried about something as trivial as my fanfics. Or ya know, reads them… Uh… Oh, right! Next chapter.

* * *

><p>Tom always liked the sky. He even liked flying, despite airport security. There was such a sense of freedom perched above the clouds, looking at the topography below. And sitting on a magical flying animal with wind whipping past his face? He'd never get closer to the sky. Such a relaxing sensation. And he'd yet to encounter a plane with more leg room than Appa's saddle.<p>

"Those clouds look so soft," Katara sighed, in the exact same mindset. "Like you could jump down and you'd land in a big, soft, cottony heap."

"Maybe you should try it," Sokka suggested sarcastically, looking away from the piece of wood he was whittling.

"You're _hilarious_," she groaned at him.

"I'll try it!" Aang exclaimed happily. He leapt from his perch on Appa's head, glider in hand, disappeared into a cloudbank below. Of course he was laughing the whole way down.

"I wouldn't suggest that without one of those gliders," Tom said, staring off into the empty blue sky.

"Why not?" Katara asked, sitting herself up from her relaxed position.

"Clouds are evaporated water and dust. Nothing to land on."

"Nothing but the ground," Sokka joked.

Right on cue, Aang reappeared soaking wet on Appa's saddle. "Turns out clouds are made of water." With a little gust, Aang dried himself instantly.

Katara looked over at Tom, who was still staring off into space. "How'd you know, Tom?" she asked, amazed.

"I like to fly," he said easily. It was the calmest his companions had seen him since they met. He looked like he was daydreaming, totally unguarded and relaxed. He smiled a little, "Sometimes I like to fly just for the sake of flying."

"What do you mean, 'you like to fly?'" Aang asked quizzically. "The only ways I know how to fly are with a sky bison or airbending…"

Tom was snapped out of his trance. This was the exact sort of thing he was trying to avoid. He couldn't talk about jets, or airports, or the charming employees of the TSA. I'd sound insane to someone who thinks the steam engine is the end! He was getting too comfortable around these people for his own good. Everyone was staring intently as Tom tried to find a way out of the hole he'd dug when his eyes caught something. The others turned to see a huge stretch of the forest terrain below blackened. "What is that?" Tom wondered aloud, hoping his acting was better than the Water Tribe siblings'. Apparently it was.

"It looks like a scar…" Sokka said as the clouds parted and Appa made his way to the ground.

On the ground, the landscape was barren. A windswept field of ash and husks of trees. "Listen," Sokka said, "It's so quiet. There's no life anywhere…" The party looked around. Nothing but ash and charcoal as far as the eye could see.

"Aang," Katara asked in a hushed voice, "Are you okay?"

Sokka, in looking around found a set of tracks in the thick ash. Among the human footprints, large tracks with five pointed toes followed alongside. The telltale tracks of the Fire Nation equivalent of horses, "Komodo Rhinos". "Fire Nation!" Sokka confirmed, "Those evil savages make me sick! They have no respect for…" Katara hushed his angry rant. "What, I'm not allowed to be angry?" She simply pointed to Aang, who had collapsed to his knees in sadness.

"Why would anyone do this?" Aang moaned as he ran his fingers through the fine remnants of the forest.

Honestly, that was a good question Tom thought as he looked around what remained of the wood. A little way off from where they had landed, Tom found a smoldering campfire. Judging by eye, it looked like it was roughly in the center of the burned out area. A short way behind it was a stone statue of a sitting bear in a ring of smaller bear statues bowing to it. Okay, a campfire run out of control is understandable, if totally irresponsible, but what about the tracks? Did the Fire Nation just watch as the forest burned down? Then again, the tracks looked fresh, and the fire clearly went out a while ago. Maybe the Fire Nation had nothing to do with it? Hard to say. Tom kicked the embers from the campfire out. There wasn't much more to be burnt, but there was no harm in being careful.

By the time Tom returned, Katara was pelting Aang and Sokka with acorns. Never a dull moment. "Each of these acorns will be a tall oak tree someday," Katara explained as she handed one to Aang, "And all the birds and animals that lived here will come back."

Aang's sad expression melted away slowly, until his bright smile returned. "Thanks, Katara."

She smiled back at him until she noticed a figure approaching. An old man with dull colored robes and a wooden walking stick.

"Who are you?" Sokka asked briskly.

"When I saw the flying bison, I thought it was impossible," the man said, "But… those markings. Are you the Avatar, child?" Aang looked to Katara before he nodded yes. "My village desperately needs your help!"

The sky had begun to turn gold and purple in the late afternoon as the group arrived in the distressed village. Some of the buildings were horribly damaged, but not one was burnt. The elder led the party to a fairly large building in the center of town. Inside, it looked like the entire population was huddled together in fear.

"This young person," the elder gestured to Aang, "is the Avatar."

A middle-aged man who could have been the mayor addressed Aang with a polite bow. "So the rumors of your return are true. It is the honor of a lifetime to be in your presence."

Aang returned the bow and smiled. "Nice to meet you too." There was a pause as no one spoke. "So," Aang finally said shakily, "is there something I can help you with?"

"I'm not sure…"

"Our village is in crisis!" the elder said strongly to the younger man, "He's our only hope." He turned to Aang, "For the last few days, a spirit monster comes and attacks our village at sunset. He is Haybi, the black and white spirit."

"Why is it attacking you?" Sokka asked with far more tact than usual.

"We do not know," the mayor said as he stepped cautiously toward the door, staring at the entrance to the village fearfully. "But each of the last three nights, he has abducted one of our own. We are especially fearful because the winter solstice draws near."

"What happens then?" Katara asked.

"As the solstice draws closer," the elder begun, "the line between the natural world and the spirit world draws closer until the line is blurred completely."

"Haybi is already causing devastation and destruction," the mayor said. "Once the solstice is here, there's no telling what will happen!"

"Isn't Haybi the spirit of the local forest?" Tom piped in.

"Yes he is," the elder said.

"The forest was burned down," Tom reported, "That's probably why it's attacking you."

"But we didn't have anything to do with that," the mayor said.

"It may be as simple as you're the closest thing that Haybi can take its anger out on."

"Tom," Aang asked, "Could I talk to you for a second?" He walked over to the window, Tom, Katara, and Sokka following where they could speak in relative privacy. "Why didn't you tell me you knew about the spirit world?" Aang demanded quietly.

"And how did you know Haybi was the spirit of the forest?" Sokka agreed.

There's that thorny "How did you know that?" question. "I found a statue in the woods and figured out it must be Haybi," Tom said, having his lie prepared in advance.

"But I've been worried about this whole Avatar thing for like, forever now," Aang complained, "Why didn't you tell me you knew about that stuff?"

"I really don't know much," Tom admitted. That wasn't really a lie since the show didn't really go into great detail about how the spirit world actually worked. "I just figured Haybi must be the spirit of the forest and put two and two together."

"But what if you're wrong about Haybi being the spirit of the forest?" Sokka asked.

"The village elder just told us he was," Katara reminded her brother.

"Oh, yeah…"

Katara rolled her eyes and turned to Aang. "So what do you think?" she asked, "Can you calm Haybi down?"

"I don't know," Aang said plainly. It was obviously not what Katara wanted to hear. "Well, it's not like there's someone to teach me this stuff!"

"So," Katara asked tentatively, "can you help these people?"

"I have to try, don't I?" Aang said helplessly. "Maybe whatever I'm supposed to do will just… come to me." He smiled, but it was a nervous one, not his usual carefree and sincere one.

"I think you can do it Aang," Katara assured honestly.

"You'll be fine," Tom agreed.

Sokka nodded with a dull, lifeless smile. "Yeah. We're all going to get eaten by a spirit monster."

About forty-five minutes later, as the sun was just sinking below the mountain line around the village, Aang stepped tentatively toward the village gate, calling the spirit nervously.

"This is wrong," Sokka smoldered, "We can't sit here and cower while Aang waits for a monster to show up."

"If anyone can save us," the elder assured, "he can."

"He still shouldn't have to face this alone!"

"We'd just get in the way, Sokka," Tom assured him. It did little to placate him.

Suddenly the sun disappeared behind the peeks and night had fallen. "The sun has set," Aang called out, "Where are you Haybi?" Nothing happened. "Well… Spirit, uh, I hereby ask you to please leave this village in peace!" He twirled his staff and planted it at the entrance of the village, trying his best to look like he actually knew what he was doing. From the distance and because his back was turned, it was actually pretty convincing. When more nothing was all he was met with, he began to turn around. "I guess that's settled than…" As he was walking away, an unnatural shadow formed among the trees. Slowly it took the shape of what could only be described as a monster and began to stalk Aang.

Haybi was a strange sight with black and white markings all over it and two sets of arms. One large one that it walked on, and a smaller pair that were free to grab or smash things.

Aang noticed the creature following him. He turned around and looked up at it (his head didn't even reach the monster's chin) and smiled at it without the least bit of fear. "You must be the Haybi spirit," he said friendly, "My name is…" He was cut off by Haybi's roar that sent a blue energy at him. Haybi immediately began attacking the nearby buildings, moving as if sliding across the ground and leaving afterimages (and debris) in its wake. "My name is Aang!" he repeated, "I'm the Avatar and I'd like to help!" The creature ignored him. "Hay, wait up!"

"The Avatar's methods are… unusual," the mayor said.

"It doesn't seem too interested in what he's saying," Sokka agreed. "Maybe we should go help him."

"No," the elder warned, "Only the Avatar stands a chance against the Haybi."

Haybi continued to smash every other building it passed as Aang tried to get its attention. Finally, while on a rooftop and Haybi's back turned, he lost his temper. "I order you to turn around now!" Aang declared. Haybi responded by smacking Aang into a building two streets away.

"That's it! He needs help!" Sokka exclaimed and ran out the front door, Tom following him. Katara tried to stop them, but she was held back.

Sokka cocked his arm back to throw his boomerang, but Tom caught him. "This is a bad idea! Aang can't protect himself and us at the same time!"

Sokka tore his arm free. "If you're so worried about my safety, than _you_ help me!" He cocked his arm back again. "Haybi, over here!" He threw, but the weapon just bounced harmlessly off the monster's skin.

"What are you two doing here?" Aang asked when he arrived next to them.

"We'll fight him together, Aang," Sokka assured.

"I don't want to fight him if I don't-"

Suddenly, Haybi barreled past, snatching up Sokka in one of its sets of arms and ran off into the forest. Aang grabbed his glider and Tom took off on foot. As Tom started to close on Haybi he called to Sokka. "I hate to tell you I told you so."

"Just shut up and help me!" he whined.

Quickly though, it became obvious that Tom didn't have the speed, or the endurance to keep up with a spirit monster. Go figure. Tom's pace steadily slowed until Aang overtook him and he stopped. Tom caught his breath and angrily made his way back to the village to wait. Even though he knew no one would return until tomorrow night.

Katara waited by the gate all night. She was getting cold, so Tom asked the village elder to get her a blanket. When he returned, he did his best to comfort her. "Your brother is in good hands," he said, "I would be shocked if the Avatar returned without him." Actually, it was Tom who was shocked when the Avatar returned.

Tom could see Aang! Transparent, ghostly, blue tinted Aang! He never expected that he could see the spirit world like Iroh. Of course, he couldn't just start talking to no one. He stared at Aang, trying to figure out a way to signal him silently. How could he talk to Aang without talking to him? By now, Aang was realizing he was in the spirit world and unable to be seen or heard. Just as he was about to give up trying to alert Katara to his presence, he noticed Tom staring in his direction.

"Wait a minute," he said, "can you see me, Tom?" Tom slowly looked down at his shoes, than up at the sky. "Uh, is that a yes…?" Tom nodded slowly again. "Okay then. But why won't you just talk to me?"

Katara's eyes were fixed on the path and not looking at Tom behind her. Still looking right at Aang, Tom said, "I'm sure they're fine, Katara. But I'll be happy when I can see them again."

"I know what you mean…"

"Oh," Aang realized, "It would look like you were talking to yourself." Wow, two for two, Tom thought. "So, we'll need to talk in private. Maybe if you go into the woods."

"I'm going to see if I can find them in the daylight," Tom said, still looking at Aang and not Katara.

"I'll go with you," She said, getting up.

"No, you wait here. In case they come back."

She sat back down begrudgingly. "Oh, alright. Just don't you get lost too."

Tom smiled. "I'll be fine." With that he disappeared into the trees.

Aang and Tom stopped in a clearing. "So, you can really see and hear me, right?" Aang asked.

"Yeah," Tom said finally. "That would have been a lot of coincidences if it wasn't."

"I'll say," Aang agreed, "But how can you see me in the spirit world?"

"I have no idea," Tom shrugged, "I've never been one to believe in ghosts." Tom waved his hand back and forth through Aang's ghostly body. There was no sensation, like he was just an illusion.

"Cut that out!"

"Sorry, this is just so weird…"

"Well, how do you think I feel?" As they were talking, they noticed a flash in the sky and something moving towards them. "Uh, what is that?" Aang asked nervously.

"A dragon," Tom stated calmly. "Good thing it can't hurt me."

Aang opened his glider. "Speak for yourself," he said as he tried to lift off. He didn't even reach the lowest branches. "I can't airbend in the spirit world!"

"That kind of sucks."

"It's not funny!" The dragon landed, coiling around Aang. As frightening as the creature was, it didn't make any threatening moves toward Aang. "I don't suppose you know where Sokka is…" The dragon touched one of its long whiskers to Aang's head. Instantly, he responded. "You're Avatar Roku's animal guide! Like Appa is to me." Aang was now completely at ease with the impressive animal. "I need to save my friend and I don't know how. Is there some way for me to talk to Roku?" The dragon lowered its head down so Aang could climb on. Once he was on, Aang looked at Tom, who was still well at ease in the knowledge that the dragon couldn't touch him. "I know I can find Sokka. Just make sure Katara's alright."

Tom nodded. "Good luck." With that the dragon took off.

Tom returned to town. Katara was holding up well enough. Tom assured her that Aang and Sokka would be back soon. The certainty with which he said it seemed to comfort her. At least a little.

The sun set again and the village hunkered in the town center. Before the doors shut behind Katara, a silhouette appeared in the fading sun. As Aang landed Katara ran out and hugged him. But right away, she noticed he was alone. "Where's Sokka?"

"I'm not sure," Aang admitted.

Tom strode up next to him. "Good to…" he smiled, "_see_ you. I'm glad you weren't eaten by some creature from the spirit world."

"Very funny." Katara didn't get the joke. Before she could ask, though, the sun dipped below the mountains. Again, Aang waited for Haybi, and again, it didn't show until he turned his back. This time the creature burst out of a building to make its entrance. Aang had to block the falling debris with a wall of air.

"What are you doing," Katara called out to him from the relative safety of the town center, "Run!"

Just as Haybi was about to attack the building for the first time, Aang leapt over its back and pressed his hand to the creature's forehead. That seemed to pacify it. A little bit. For a moment. "I understand," Aang said to Haybi, "You're upset and angry because your home was burned down." Haybi stopped attacking and was breathing heavily. It seemed almost like a grieving parson as opposed to a rampaging monster. "When I saw the forest, I was sad and upset. But my friend gave me hope it'll grow back…" Aang showed the calming Haybi an acorn, smiling at it kindly. He placed the acorn on the ground. Haybi picked it up in one of its sets of arms and turned around. For the first time, it looked calm and transformed from a fourteen-foot monster into a fourteen-foot panda. As it left the village, bamboo grew in the entrance, and all Haybi had taken stumbled out, Sokka leading the way.

Katara ran right to Sokka as all the lost villagers were embraced by their loved ones. "What happened?" he asked plainly.

"You were trapped in the spirit world for twenty-four hours," his sister told him, "How are you feeling?"

"Like I seriously need to use the bathroom," he staggered away.

Once everyone was reunited and the excitement died down, the village gathered before the Avatar and his friends. The mayor thanked them graciously. "If only there was a way we could repay you…"

"You could give us some supplies," Sokka suggested, "And some money." Katara elbowed him hard, but he just shrugged. "What, we need stuff."

"It would be an honor to help you prepare for your journey," the mayor bowed deeply.

"I'm so proud of you Aang," Katara said after the villagers dispersed, "You figured out what to do all on your own."

"Actually, I did have some help." Aang's face got serious. "And there's something else. I need to talk to Roku, and I think I found a way to contact his spirit."

"That's great!" Katara beamed.

"Creepy, but great." Sokka's comment drew a dirty look from his sister.

"There's a temple on a crescent shaped island, and if I go there on the solstice, I can speak with him."

"But the solstice is tomorrow!" Katara said.

"And there's one more problem," Aang added, "The island is in the Fire Nation."

A little later, the group began to disperse to pack up their things and get ready for tomorrow. Aang approached Tom alone. "What's up?" Tom asked when he noticed Aang's expression.

"Roku's dragon showed me two visions on the crescent island…"

Confusion washed over Tom's face. "Wait, two visions?"

"One was of a comet," Aang explained, "And the other was of you."

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><p>This should be where the ball starts rolling and the story becomes my own. Tom isn't some Gary Stew third wheel, he does actually do stuff. The more I thought about this chapter, the more it developed and I think the end result is satisfactory. But of course, that's not my place to say. Useful reviews appreciated. (Useless reviews ignored.)<p> 


	6. That Which Arises, part I

This is where the story really should take off. I know I've had pacing problems, but if you go back and reread from here they should (I hope) go away. I've read a lot of fics in this style and there's seldom any build up. With any luck, this (and possibly the next) chapter will be more rewarding.

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><p>The full moon was on its way down from its place in the sky as Aang futilely tried to drag Appa into takeoff. Tom stood next to Aang, only slightly amused by the airbender's attempts to get Appa off the ground. "Let's go, Appa!" Aang whispered as he strained on the reins, "Look, I'm sorry, but Sokka and Katara aren't coming to the Fire Nation with us. If they got hurt I'd never forgive myself… So get your big butt off the ground and let's go!" Aang continued to pull with all he had, but it was like trying to drag a mountain. Appa wasn't going anywhere.<p>

"I think his big butt is trying to tell you something," a voice said from behind the sky bison. It was Sokka's.

The entire town was standing there, led by Sokka and Katara. "Please don't go, Aang," she said, "The world can't afford to lose you to the Fire Nation. Neither can I."

Aang looked irritably at Tom who shrugged. "Why are you looking at me?" Tom asked, though he had a slight smile on his face.

"But I have to talk to Avatar Roku to find out what my vision means!" Aang explained, "I need to get to the Fire Temple before the solstice. That's today!" He hopped up onto Appa's head to get ready for takeoff and motioned for Tom to get on. Instead, he, Sokka, and Katara moved in front of Appa to block his path. Of course, Appa could move in three dimensions, making the gesture useless, but it proved the point.

"We're not letting you go into the Fire Nation, Aang," Katara said sternly.

"At least, not without your friends," Sokka agreed, "We've got your back." Even Momo showed his support by landing on Aang's shoulder. Appa showed support to Sokka by licking him with his huge slobbery tongue. This was a lot less appreciated.

"It's a long journey to the crescent island," the mayor said once the group boarded Appa, "You'll have to fly fast if you want any chance of making it before sundown." With that the mayor handed Aang a box of what could only be the supplies and money Sokka asked for the day before. "Good luck."

"Thank you for your-"

"Go!" the mayor insisted. And they did.

They spent the morning hours rushing toward the crescent island. It wasn't until about noon that they even approached Fire Nation waters. And it was about then that they noticed an ironclad ship following closely behind them.

"Aang!" Katara reported, "We've got trouble!"

"Yeah!" Sokka agreed, "And it's gaining fast!"

"That's Zuko, isn't it?" Tom asked.

"Looks like it," Sokka nodded, still looking at the ship. "Wait! How do you know about Zuko?"

"He's actually fairly well known from where I come from." That wasn't a lie. At least the character is well known, anyway…

Suddenly, an oily fireball rushed up at them. Katara called it out to Aang. He yanked the reins hard and Appa barely dodged the attack.

"He has remarkable aim," Tom stated calmly, holding his nose, "He even knew to lead the target. No one knows to lead the target!"

"Admire his aim later!" Sokka snapped.

"We have to get out of Zuko's range before he shoots another hot stinker at us!" Katara exclaimed. Tom didn't know why they were making such a big deal about the smell. Sure, it was bad, but his dog smelled worse on a rainy day…

"Can't you make Appa go any faster?" Sokka asked.

"Yeah," Aang said, "but there's just one little problem…" A blockade. "If we go north, we can go around the blockade."

"We won't have to if Appa's got a high enough ceiling," Tom said.

"Ceiling?" his three companions asked in unison.

"Their weapons have a limited range," Tom elaborated, "If you can get Appa high enough, they can't attack us."

"Can you do it Aang?" Katara asked, one eye on the ever approaching blockade.

"I don't know," Aang's mind raced, "This is exactly why I didn't want you to come!"

"And that's exactly why we're here," Katara told him.

"Let's run this blockade!" Sokka added.

Appa began a sharp climb as the mass of Fire Navy ships launched flaming boulders at them. Appa took cover in a cloud bank, but the sheer number of attacks made it difficult to avoid being hit. Appa had to duck and weave through the assault. The wild maneuvers caused Sokka to be dislodged from his place on the saddle and tumble through the sky. Aang brought Appa down to catch him. They didn't get close until they were just about at wavetop level. Tom and Katara caught his arms and brought him back down to the saddle. Since the last volley had ended, Appa leveled out so Sokka could get resettled.

"Plan B!" Tom called out, "Chase splashes!"

"What?"

"They'll not aim in the same place twice!"

"That's crazy!" Sokka exclaimed.

Though once the next volley started though, there wasn't much aiming to it. It was just a wall of flaming, oily boulders. Between the combine skills of Appa and Aang, they were able to get through the salvo without any hits, but it was frightening. Tom's blood pressure had to have doubled! But after an adrenalin pumping four seconds, the second wave passed. Fortunately, Appa was too low and too close for any kind of accuracy. Now the Fire Navy vessels waited to fire. By now they were close enough to see and hear the blockade commander, Zhao.

"Ready…!" Zhao paused as Appa got closer and closer. "Fire!"

The trebuchet behind Zhao launched its ordinance. Aang leapt forward. He kicked his leg at the fireball and blasted it with a strong gust. The fire was blown out and the oil slipped off. The rock was slowed down but still threatening to slam into Appa's head. Aang didn't slow down however. He continued forward and slammed his outstretched foot into the rock. The stone, being meant to fragment into shrapnel on impact, fell apart upon Aang's airbending boosted kick. He fell back towards the saddle and was caught by the Water Tribe siblings as Appa passed over the deck of Zhao's ship.

"We made it!" Aang cheered happily.

"We made it into the Fire Nation," Sokka said nervously, "Great…"

Hours more passed as the group made their way to the crescent island. There was nothing left but distance to impede them. As the adrenalin high gave way to the exhaustion low, the entire group started to droop. Even Appa started to let his legs dangle as he flew on. Finally, just before sleep was about to set in, Aang spotted it.

Appa was completely exhausted when he landed, rolling over so Katara could rub his belly. "Aw, you must be tired," she cooed.

"Nope," Sokka said as he stretched, "I'm refreshed and ready to fight some firebenders!"

"I was talking to Appa…"

"Well… I was talking to… Momo."

Tom, ignoring Sokka's usual antics, looked at the sun. It was late afternoon. The sky had just changed color. My added weight didn't change anything, Tom thought. He had expected that he would have slowed Appa down, but no. Tom was looking forward to this next part. If Roku's dragon showed him a vision of Sozen's Comet _and_ himself, that means he might get some answers after this "episode" is over. And answers were something Tom was desperate for.

* * *

><p>Okay, I thought this might happen. Winter Solstice Part 2 is being split into two parts, BUT I expected this. The next update will be the second half of this. It should be long, it should be exciting, and it should be difficult as all hell to write. I am going to go cry now…<p> 


	7. That Which Arises, part II

Time to get that ol' plot going. I guess you could call this a… Final Overture! Ah, ha ha ha! I'm so funny I… Oh wait, nobody's going to get that joke but me. Uh… So yeah. Next Chapter;

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><p>The way up to the Temple was easy, but like Omashu, was unnerving. Instead of a dizzying drop however, lava of all things bracketed the stone pathway. There wasn't a soul to be seen as the group approached. "I don't see any guards," Sokka noted as he, Katara, and Aang spied the entrance from as safe distance. They even went so far as to hide behind a small, decorative wall.<p>

"Why would there be guards?" Tom asked, making no effort to conceal himself. "This is a temple, not a military outpost."

"Because it's the Fire Nation, of course!" Sokka elaborated.

"Yeah, and they've got non-combat buildings just like anyone else. It's not like the Fire Nation is Fascist."

"What's Fascist mean?" Aang asked curiously

"Never mind…" Tom made his way toward the temple, Aang, Katara, and Sokka in toe. Just down a hall from the entrance, the group found a chamber that led into several other pathways. It was as good a place as any to start.

"Wait," Sokka whispered, "I think I heard something…" The group turned to see five older men in red robes and ornamental hats.

"We are the Fire Sages," the one in the lead said with a strong, measured voice, "Guardians of the temple of the Avatar."

"Great," Aang smiled, "I _am_ the Avatar."

"We know," the lead sage said before attacking with a blast of fire.

Aang blocked the attacks easily and said "I'll hold them off, run!" The Water Tribe siblings took off down the nearest hallway.

"Sure you don't need any help with that?" Tom asked.

Aang loosed a blast of air to knock the Fire Sages off their feet and down one of the halls a foot or two. "Nope," he chirped as he rushed down another hall, Tom following close behind.

The four met up, running down one of the halls of the maze-like structure. "Do you know where you're going?" Sokka asked as Aang rushed ahead.

"Nope." Aang ducked around a corner, but immediately rushed back around. "Wrong way!" he cried. One of the Fire Sages followed him around the corner causing the others to run as well. Tom considered staying put since he recognized the sage as Shyu, the only one left still loyal to the Avatar, but now wasn't time to rock the boat.

Shyu cornered the group at a dead end and slowed to a stop. "I don't want to fight you," he said reassuringly, "I am a friend."

"Firebenders aren't our friends," Sokka warned as he and Aang prepared for a fight.

Shyu bowed, "I know why you're here, Avatar."

"You do?"

"You wish to speak to Avatar Roku. I can take you to him." Shyu moved a lamp aside and placed his hand over it. A little puff of fire caused the wall panel next to it to slide open. "This way," he gestured. The group thought it over, but they could hear the footfalls and angry voices of the other sages growing closer. "Quickly!" There was no other recourse, so they ducked into the secret passage, letting the door close behind them.

Shyu led the group through the catacombs underneath the Fire Temple. Of course they were filled with lava. Shyu explained about the sages, and how their loyalties shifted from the Avatar to the Fire Lord. Frankly, Tom had heard that a dozen times. He just tuned it out. He was more concerned with how the ambient heat wasn't auto igniting their clothes. Though, to be fair, it wasn't long before they were climbing the spiral staircase up to the sanctuary.

Unfortunately, the doors were closed when they arrived.

"Can't you just open it with firebending?" Katara asked, "Like that other door?"

"Only a fully realized Avatar is powerful enough to open these doors alone," Shyu explained, "Otherwise the sages must open the doors together with five simultaneous fire blasts."

"Five fire blasts, huh…?" Sokka thought out loud, "I think I can help you out with that." Sokka collected the oil from several of the lamps around the door. He emptied the oil into five pouches and finished by soaking the twine that tied them in what oil remained. "This is a trick I learned from my father. I seal the lamp oil in an animal skin casing. Shyu lights the oil soaked twine and; ta-da! Fake firebending!"

"That may be enough power, but it won't last long enough," Tom said.

"Why do you have to be such a pessimist?" Sokka whined.

"I think there's a chance that it'll work…" Shyu said, sounding almost half confident.

"But what if it doesn't?" Katara asked, "The sages will hear."

"Not you too!"

"So what should we do?" Aang asked in Tom's direction, though he would have taken ideas from Momo by this point.

"Shyu," Tom turned to the sage, "Do the other Fire Sages know you're helping us?"

"No."

"If it doesn't work, you need to convince the other sages it did."

"Then the sages will open the door for us to follow Aang! If we distract the sages, you can slip in!" Katara realized. "You know, between the two of you, I think we may have a genius on our hands."

"I can't be a genius on my own?" Sokka half whimpered.

"We can mend each other's egos later," Tom told Sokka as he got his friend up, "We've got work to do."

The oil bags were placed into the heads of the five-headed serpent statue that served as the locking mechanism on the door. Shyu lit the fuses and they waited. The fuses burned slowly until… BOOM! The charges went off, leaving a cloud of smoke in its wake. However, when the smoke cleared, the doors hadn't budged. Fortunately, there was no need for panic. Tom had already suggested a backup plan. Shyu retrieved the other sages and told them that the Avatar had gotten into the sanctuary. He played his part like a master, and his former colleagues fell for it. Once the doors opened, the sages were only treated to Momo.

"It's the Avatar's lemur!" the lead Fire Sage roared, "We've been tricked!"

Momo instantly leaped onto the lead Fire Sage's head, blinding him. Katara and Sokka subdued one each and Shyu put the last into a joint lock. At this point, Zuko should have been carrying Aang towards the stairs. But instead, Zuko came flying out after being ambushed and kicked in the face by Tom.

"Thanks!" Aang called as he darted toward the sanctuary. He made it inside and the doors shut behind him, glowing a bright blue. Right after, the Fire Sages threw off their captors and held them, ushering them toward one of the pillars to be detained (though Momo got away with one of the fancy hats). Zuko had also risen to confront Tom.

"Who are you supposed to be?" he demanded.

"I suppose you could call me a concerned citizen," Tom smiled.

"Oh you're not 'concerned' yet!" Zuko launched waves of fire at Tom. He could dodge them easily enough, but like the last firebender he fought, he couldn't do much aggressively without getting Kentucky Fried. And it didn't take long for Tom to realize Zuko was far more skilled than anyone he'd ever fought. (And he'd been in more than his share of fights!) One good, flaming punch and the fight was over.

Tom was chained up with the Water Tribe siblings and was left to wait out the rest of the scene and nurse his wounded ego. That was the only thing he had seriously hurt. By the time Zhao showed up, Tom was batting the back of his head against the pillar he was chained to. These villain characters were a lot less tolerable when you were listening to their monologues in person. Isn't Aang talking with Roku _yet_, Tom groaned in his mind. And as if on cue, he could feel an energy rising in him. He felt compelled to pull against the chains. He didn't hear Sokka or Katara ask him what was wrong or the guard telling him to cut it out. There was a heat building. Hot enough for everyone in the room to notice. With one herculean pull, the chains began to melt and tore apart.

The firebender next to the prisoners reacted first, trying to knock Tom out cold with a swift flaming punch. Tom reacted instinctively, batting away the attack like the flames were nothing. Still just reacting, he drove his elbow into the center of the firebender's mask, the attack punctuated by flames of his own. The guard fell in a heap, very, very unconscious.

"You're a firebender?" Katara gasped.

Tom still couldn't register the voices around him. His eyes were wide and staring at his own hand and he was visibly shaking. Sokka, seeing all the color drained from Tom's face, decided to trust the young man who had become his friend and try to warn him of the firebenders preparing to surround him. "Tom!" Sokka cried, smacking him hard on the back of his head, "Snap out of it, man!"

That was enough and Tom was himself again. He started to fight off the guards with his friends, but even with his newfound firebending, they were grossly outnumbered. They were kept at bay with less than half the force Zhao had at his disposal. Fortunately, while Tom may have been introduced to firebending less than thirty seconds ago, he was fortunate enough to have been trained in several martial arts. Most of the firebenders relied on the fire itself, but Tom was a better fighter. Between him, Shyu, Katara, and Sokka, they were making progress on the ridiculous numbers of guards.

Before this could warrant Zhao's attention, though, the sanctuary door started to creek open. Gleefully, Zhao and his best firebenders blasted the opening. All but Tom (who knew the scene from the show) were shocked when the fire parted to reveal the ghostly form of Avatar Roku!

The fully realized Avatar turned the fire back on its castors and throwing them to the ground. Also, whether intentionally or not, it damaged the chains holding the also captured Zuko enough for him to break free and escape. Roku proceeded to tear the temple apart with the lava in the catacombs below it, separating Tom and Shyu from Sokka and Katara. Once enough damage had been done to the temple and the sun faded, the image of Roku disappeared and was replaced by Aang, who only barely managed to stay on his feet.

Sokka and Katara helped Aang to steady himself and they made their way to a convenient hole to get to Appa. "Where's Tom and Shyu?" Aang asked sleepily.

"We're fine," Tom called as he jogged over to join them, Shyu right behind. Appa arrived just in time as the crumbling temple sank into the new volcano Roku had torn into the ground. The five made it onto the bison and they sped away from the temple. Momo even got to keep his new hat!

* * *

><p>(Cutting it a little close AGAIN, but) there we go! That's exactly what I was going for. The pacing should feel less terrible now I think, so if you're reading this as I update, try re-reading it now. It <strong>should<strong> flow better. One can only hope.


	8. Those Who Realize

This is sort of an odd position for me. I did an uncommon amount of planning for this story, yet I still find it diverging from my original plan. It's sort of funny how a story can sometimes write itself. That's a good tip for you aspiring writers out there; if your story is being pulled in an unexpected direction, let it. Now watch as I don't take my own advice.

* * *

><p>Appa ferried his passengers away from the crumbling Fire Temple and toward the Earth Kingdom. Since time was no longer a factor, the group could move around the blockade. This was good since no one had the energy left to run a naval blockade tonight. The sun was setting as they finally approached the shore. Camp was hastily made and the party rested for the night.<p>

The next morning (Tom had to be dragged out of bed), Aang asked Shyu if he wanted to join them on their journey. Shyu politely declined. He had just betrayed the Fire Sages who, despite their radicalism, were still his family and was now a traitor in the eyes of his homeland. He wanted some time to find himself. He told them he'd journey on his own through the Earth Kingdom and that their paths would cross again should the spirits allow it. Aang insisted he take some of their supplies since Shyu had nothing but the clothes on his back. He accepted and made his way towards the horizon.

With all that taken care of, they set out again for the North. It was still a long way to the Northern Water Tribe and according to Aang, there was no time to rest. He explained about the comet and that he had to stop Fire Lord Ozai before summer's end. The whole thing had him worked into a very uncharacteristic panic. Katara did her best to calm him down (which she eventually did) as Sokka kept Appa on course.

When Aang calmed down (at the promise of waterbending lessons from Katara) he noticed Tom staring vacantly at his own hand. Occasionally, he'd snap his fingers. "So…" Aang started carefully, "I hear you're a firebender." Tom didn't answer right away.

"Yeah," Sokka called from Appa's head, "When the heck did that happen?" His tone wasn't accusatory so much as curious. He didn't seem to be acting any different than if it was uncovered that Tom was really Spider-Man or something harmless like that.

"I'm surprised you aren't throwing me overboard," Tom responded, still vacant in his demeanor. "Didn't you promise to send me over the edge if I was a firebender?"

"No, I said I'd do it if you were a spy," Sokka corrected. "If you were a spy you wouldn't have done a thing back there. They had us so many times." He turned around to show the serious and genuine expression on his face, "Besides, even the best liars can't make their faces go that pale."

"Did you really not know you were a firebender?" Katara asked, her typical motherly concern permeating from her words.

"Where I come from there's no such thing as 'bending'," Tom answered. It took a moment for him to realize how strange how he phrased that sentence would sound to his friends. Luckily they didn't notice.

"You mean there aren't any benders where you're from?" Katara asked.

The wise-ass in Tom wanted to say "Sure, let's go with that," but between his first slip up and his continued shock he just nodded.

"So what's it like," Aang asked.

"Beats me."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Sokka asked.

Tom snapped his fingers again, "All of that at the temple was adrenalin. I haven't been able to make a lick of fire since."

"Maybe it's all gone?" Sokka wondered hopefully.

"I certainly hope not," Tom admitted, "Fire conjuring would certainly even the playing field against some of our tougher opponents."

"But I still need to learn all the elements before the end of the summer," Aang bemoaned. "At least if you figure out this whole firebending thing I'll have two teachers covered."

"We'll see," Tom mumbled. "Though it's got to be tough having the weight of the world on your shoulders."

"It is…"

"But don't worry," Katara said brightly, "You have us."

"We'll take down the Fire Nation together!" Sokka added.

"Many hands make light work," Tom finished.

"You guys are the best," Aang smiled feeling confident in himself and their mission.

The rest of the day was filled with monotonies flying toward the horizon. There were no Fire Nation attacks, or villages to save. It wasn't any surprise to Tom that this was the norm. Despite that, it was still just as annoying. Living _Avatar: the Last Airbender_ wasn't nearly as fun as one would think. That night, after Sokka and Katara were asleep, Aang asked to talk to Tom.

"I'm guessing there's a reason you left out what Roku had to say about me?" Tom asked.

"Well… I wasn't sure if it was a good idea to say anything…"

"That bad huh?" Tom asked sarcastically.

"No. It's just… he said you were different. That you came from a whole other world."

"I could have told him that."

"He also said you would know things. Like, before they happen."

Tom did a double take. "Wait, he knew about that?! Does he know how I got here? Why I got here? How I can get home?"

Aang shook his head sadly. "Sorry, no. He just said that you'd know things and that I should trust you."

"That's all?"

"Yeah."

"Fantastic!" Tom complained.

"So, since you know the future…" Aang started.

"Yes, you end up with Katara."

"Wow," Aang said, blushing furiously, "You can predict the future. That was going to be my third question."

"It doesn't work that…" Tom started irritably, "I know events that are going to happen. Your life to me is… was…" Tom couldn't find the words which was unusual for him.

"What do you mean? What is it about my life?"

Tom took a deep breath and just came out with it as plainly as he could. "Where I come from, your life is a story. A work of fiction."

"You mean like a play?"

"For lack of a better way to put it, yes."

"So, do we win?"

"Define 'we'?"

"What do you mean?"

"I'm not supposed to be part of this."

"So, have you been changing things?"

"My just being here has changed a few things, but nothing major. I've decided to try to move the story along faster but get the same ending. I think that if you win, I'll get to go home."

"So we win in the end?" Aang beamed.

"You're supposed to."

"And now we've got you!" the exuberant airbender exclaimed, "There's no way we won't stop the Fire Lord!"

"Don't celebrate yet," Tom warned, though he was smiling too, "There's more than a little pain along the way."

"Oh, you're right!" Aang tried to look serious, but his baby face just made him look silly. "Is there anything I should know?"

"Don't worry about you and Katara, that'll work itself out, Zuko's not evil, and beware lightning strikes to your chakras," Tom listed.

"Lightning strikes to my what?"

"It'll make sense with time," Tom assured

That night, Tom had the best night's sleep since this whole crazy adventure began. It was good that he didn't have to curb his tongue around Aang, even if they agreed they should keep Tom's knowledge between themselves. Still though, his dreams were haunted by someone he desperately wished to return to.

* * *

><p>How was the dialogue scene near the end? Was it clear what was going on? What was wrong with it? How could I have done that differently? I would very much like some critiques please!<p> 


	9. Those Who Attain

It's Wednesday, not Saturday, but I'll take whatever improvement I can get. This chapter was supposed to be last chapter, which seems to becoming a running theme in my writing of this. Hopefully I can get this done quickly and move on.

* * *

><p>Early in the next day's travel, the group spotted a pristine river and beautiful roaring waterfall. It was decided that Aang would get his first waterbending lessons there. While Katara taught Aang what she knew, Tom decided to try to figure out his firebending. That left Sokka to groom Appa. Surprisingly, he was perfectly fine with this.<p>

Tom didn't pay any real attention to Katara's lesson, he had seen it before. He instead concentrated on his palm. Hard. He focused on the center of his hand and imagined it heating up. To his illation it did. To make sure it wasn't just a combination of the sun and his imagination, he turned away from the sun. With his hand in his own shadow, he still felt the heat. It was definitely real. He tried to build it up more. He got the spot on his hand so hot it caused a heat shimmer. That early promise didn't go anywhere. All that heat and not a lick of fire.

When the heat became painful he quit and turned back toward Aang and Katara he saw Aang wash their supplies away with a fair sized wave. It would seem Aang was doing just as well. The party had to make its way into a nearby town to replace the lost supplies. It was about a forty-five minute walk from their camp below the waterfall.

Unsurprisingly, the true nature of the seedy trading town was watered down for TV. The town reeked, many of the buildings were in disrepair, and Tom spied at least one dead body in an alleyway. Truly a charming little hamlet. Katara, who was leading by sheer virtue of happening to walk the fastest, was leading the group and trying to stay in the less-awful side of town. It worked for the most part, but they still got strange glares from passersby and witnessed more than a few potential muggings. Ironically, Tom stood out the least in his Earth Kingdom garb.

"Why didn't you tell me about the wave that washed away our supplies?" Aang asked Tom while Katara and Sokka were in one of the shops.

"Because it wasn't important," Tom explained easily, "Don't expect me to walk you through this ordeal."

"Well, what's the point of knowing what happens next if you don't do anything about it?"

"I don't want to screw something up. Besides, all that stuff's replaceable." As the two were talking, a figure approached Tom from behind. A hand reached out toward his shoulder. Before it made contact, he ducked under the gesture and grabbed the figure's wrist and put him in a joint lock. "Who are you?"

"Tom!" Aang exclaimed, "What are you doing?!"

"I'm a paranoid," he answered easily, then turned back to the now very uncomfortable man, "Now answer my question!"

"I'm just a merchant!" the spindly man in plain, unremarkable clothing exclaimed, "I was going to show you some of my wares!" Tom let the man go, who backed away quickly.

"I apologize for my rude friend," Aang said accusingly toward Tom.

"N-not to worry," the spindly man said, "This distracted you long enough for my partner to get behind you."

Aang barely sensed the attack in time to duck, the sword passing just over his head. He spun around and blasted the attacker away with a gust from his staff. The spindly man in the meantime had drawn a knife and aimed it at Tom's head. He easily stopped it, kicked out the man's knee and wrapped his forearm around this throat.

"Don't choke him!" Aang cried as the man scratched helplessly at Tom's arm.

"I'll let him go when he passes out," Tom reassured, "Come on. Tap out. Tap ou- there you go." He laid the unconscious attacker on the ground and dusted himself off nonchalantly.

"I guess it's a good thing you're paranoid…" Aang decided.

"As Michael Westen has said; 'there are the paranoid, and there are the dead'."

"Is Michael Westen someone from your world?"

Tom thought about a quick explanation, but couldn't find one. "Sure, let's go with that."

Soon after Katara and Sokka exited the shop they had been in. Katara was quick to notice the unconscious man at Tom's feet. "Uh, did something happen out here?"

"Nope," Tom said instantly, "Moving on."

With most of the money the group had spent and all of the supplies replaced, Tom was reaching familiar territory. When Aang spotted a bison whistle (a dog whistle shaped like a sky bison), Tom insisted he buy it. Aang didn't need any convincing. Sokka and Katara on the other hand weren't so pleased.

They were on their way out of town when they were stopped by a rather boisterous salesman. Aang instantly taken in by his enthusiasm, insisted on taking there last two copper pieces to the trader's ship.

On the way up the gangplank, Aang leaned toward Tom. "Planning on attacking this guy too?"

"Give it about five, ten minutes," Tom returned plainly. Aang couldn't tell if he was serious or not.

Tom browsed through the ships wide collection of assorted items. He was looking for things that fit three criteria; small, light, and valuable. He was also getting the layout of the ship. Valuable information for someone who knew the future.

"You guys are pirates!" Tom heard Sokka exclaim.

"We like to think of ourselves as 'high-risk traders'," one of the pirates responded.

"So how much for the 'traded' scroll?" Katara asked.

"I've already got a buyer," the pirate captain told them, "That is, unless you've got _200 gold pieces_ on you right now!"

Tom noticed Aang whisper something to Katara than walk confidently up to the pirate captain. It didn't matter that he didn't hear Aang's words, he knew what was said. He decided to ignore Aang haggle with the pirate captain and instead watch Katara pocket the waterbending scroll in question. He noticed one of the pirates watching her as she eyed the scroll. He stepped in the way just as she took it. Right after Aang gave the high bid of two copper pieces (all he had), Katara insisted they leave.

They made it quite a distance from the ship before anything happened. Just long enough to get Tom's hopes up. But, despite his efforts, the pirates still came after them. Outrunning them was easy enough. And when Aang blasted a familiar merchant's cabbage cart into the pursuers, the chase seemed over. That is, until they got cut off by three pirates who had spit off earlier. Aang, Sokka, and Katara rushed into an alley that stopped abruptly. They turned to see Tom clotheslining an unsuspecting pirate at the mouth of the alley. He ducked under the spear of a second pirate and struck him in the face with a well-placed elbow. The final pirate tried a low sweep, only to see Tom jump it and kick him square in the head, knocking him out cold. Aang, Sokka, and Katara ran from the alleyway and toward the edge of town. Sokka even stopped a moment to compliment Tom.

Before he turned to follow, Tom bowed lightly at the unconscious rabble. "By your leave, Mr. Turner."

"I used to look up to pirates," Aang lamented back at camp, "But those guys were terrible."

"Don't worry," Tom sighed, "they weren't typical."

"Really?"

"Yup. Real pirates are much, much worse."

"And that's why I took this," Katara said, presenting the stolen scroll.

"No wonder they were trying to hack us up!" Sokka snapped, "You stole their waterbending scroll!"

"I prefer to think of it as 'high-risk trading.' Where do you think they got it?" Katara returned, "They stole it from a waterbender!"

"Well, what's done is done," Aang decided. "We have it. We might as well learn from it."

"You have fun with that," Tom told them, "You can use what you learn on them when they come after us again."

"Yeah, what he said!"

"I'll be over here, trying not to light myself on fire."

"Don't listen to those paranoid worry-warts," Katara said more to them than to Aang. "Let's get started."

Again, Tom was content to ignore the waterbending session and was picking up where he left off. Heat buildup. Heat shimmer. Pain. No fire. It was endlessly frustrating, not that that anger helped produce a spark. In desperation, he decided to try an experiment. He built the heat up again to the point he could see it, as before, but this time he dropped a leaf into his palm. To his elation, a fire burst in his hand. "Hot damn!" Just as he started to celebrate, the fire was put out by an unexpected splash of water. "Sonova…!" Katara had put out the fire in her attempt at the water whip. He turned to see Katara yell at Aang for demonstrating the move so effortlessly. It wasn't until she looked at his hurt expression that she realized her mistake.

"Oh my gosh, Aang," she said sorrowfully, "I don't know what came over me. But you know what?" she handed him the scroll, "This is yours. I don't want anything more to do with it."

"What about Tom and Momo?" Sokka piped up, "They're the real victims here."

"You're right," Katara agreed, kneeling down to pet Momo, whom she had hit with one of her stray attempts. "Sorry about your fire, Tom." He just mumbled irritably and went back to work.

Despite his breakthrough, Tom made no further headway in his firebending. He couldn't make fire unless he introduced something flammable. As night fell, he tried to stay awake, but his training tired him out. He decided not to dwell on it. He'd be woken up when the inevitable pirate attack came, right? Well, turns out he wouldn't, because he awoke to being dragged by his ankle by one of the pirates, hands bound…

When the pirates arrived at the shore with their captives, Zuko, who was waiting for them, complimented them on their work. That is, until he noticed a certain firebender in their midst, and the only one with his hands behind his back.

"Wait a minute," Zuko warned, "How is he tied up?"

"With rope," Tom reported, holding up singed fragments of what was once good rope. "So let me get this straight," he said turning to the captain and resting one arm casually on his shoulder, "You're going to trade my friend Aang here for a single waterbending scroll."

"What's wrong with that?" the captain asked.

"Isn't it obvious?" Sokka chimed in, instantly catching on, "He's the Avatar. He'd be worth a hundred of those scrolls on the black market."

"Shut your mouths, you stupid peasants!" Zuko ordered.

"Yeah, guys," Aang agreed quietly, "You really should shut your mouths…"

"Just hear me out, Hector…" Tom started at the captain.

"My name isn't-"

"You sell my buddy to the Fire Lord. He's so eternally grateful, he showers you with gold. Maybe even gives you a fancy title! You take all that money and influence, and you _buy a whole navy_! Than you can plunder to your heart's content. Get as many scrolls to sell as there are to find!"

"I like the sound of that!" the captain said, turning from Zuko, "You can keep that crummy old scroll."

"You'll regret breaking a deal with me," Zuko warned before he and his men attacked.

The pirates countered with a smokescreen and a chaotic battle began. Tom moved to free Katara, who had been tied to a tree earlier. "I'm so sorry," she said, rubbing her sore wrists, "This is all my fault."

"I'll be happy to agree with you later," Tom told her before a Fire Nation solder attacked and they were forced to separate. Tom saw Zuko at the edge of the battlefield. He had just defeated one of the pirates and was collecting himself. Tom ambushed him, but his attack didn't go through. Zuko countered and to his illation, Tom could firebend again. He exchanged a few fast-paced and evenly matched blows with Zuko before the pirate captain intervened. He tried to cleave both of them with his sword. Tom ducked and Zuko leaned back to avoid the attack. Tom rolled forward, behind Zuko, and snatched the scroll form his waistband. He had to immediately drop it however, to counter a spear thrust from a Fire Nation soldier. He saw Momo snatch it, but quickly decided it didn't matter. He made his way toward the pirate junk.

He met up with his friends just as they were trying to get the docked junk in the water. "It's no use," the ever optimistic Sokka declared, "We'd need a team of rhinos to budge this ship."

"Or two waterbenders," Aang smiled at Katara.

The two of them, using the waterbending skills they had learned, dislodged the junk from the sandbar and boarded. Tom made his way for the hold before anyone noticed and started looting. It's not like anything in there was going to be useable in a few minutes. When he felt the ship stop, he knew it was time to go. He made it back on deck just as the junk was saved from going over the falls that towered over their camp.

"Where have you been?" Sokka demanded.

Tom held up a fair sized bag, "Preemptive salvaging."

With a hard crash, everyone was thrown to the deck as Zuko's stolen riverboat slammed into the side of the stalled junk.

"Jump!" Aang ordered as the four leaped over the falls. Just in time, Appa swooped in and caught them. "I knew a bison whistle would come in handy," Aang said, holding up the seemingly useless item.

Once again, Tom ignored the "stealing is wrong" lesson of the day scene. He had bigger things on his mind. After Katara stored the scroll (that Sokka had saved) she noticed Tom humming a strange tune. "Tom?"

"Humm hhu hum hah hum hum hum hum… …And really bad eggs." Tom snapped his fingers, and over his index finger, a flame the size of a candle lit. "Drink up me hearties, yo ho!"

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><p>Insert Pirates of the Caribbean theme here.<p>

Paranoia seemed to be a nice running gag here. I'm also kind of refining the perspective. I would very much like some feedback as to whether this is the right direction or not. I do not have a fragile ego! Tell me where this fails so I can fix it!


	10. That Which Corrupts, part I

It's good to start ahead. I kind of have to though since I can't write this next chapter as planned. I've mentioned before that I've done an uncommon amount of planning for this story and now I know why that level of planning is uncommon. The details of the story as I write are piling up and forcing the narrative off track. That's not necessarily bad, per say, but it's making this story harder to write. Hopefully that'll make it more rewarding, but that's yet to be seen.

* * *

><p>Things had cooled down since the last incident. The party had reached the equator and so the winter trees still had their leaves, though they had the colors of autumn. The scene was soothing and surprisingly warm. They were just breaking camp after lunch when Aang noticed someone was missing from the group.<p>

"Where's Momo?" he asked. The heard a screech form the lemur in question and ran off to fins him. He was locked in a metal trap of some kind, suspended in a tree. It was easy for Aang to vault up a few nearby trees to get to the trap's release. Katara and Sokka opened the trap on the ground and Momo popped out, munching on a handful of leachy nuts as if nothing had happened. Aang noticed two other animals caught in the trap, so he started to work his way toward them.

"This is gonna take forever," Sokka complained, tossing his boomerang. It easily cut through the ropes, causing the traps to hit the ground with a thud. The animals happily ran off into the woods. "These are Fire Nation traps," Sokka reported, "You can tell from the metalwork. We'd better pack up camp and get moving." They did so, but when Tom, Katara, and Aang started to load their stuff on Appa, Sokka stopped them.

"Why wouldn't we fly?" Aang asked.

"Think about it," Sokka started, "Somehow Prince Zuko and the Fire Nation keep finding up. It's because they spot Appa, he's too noticeable."

"The Fire Nation keeps finding us because they control half of this continent," Tom asserted.

"Still, we're less likely to run across the Fire Nation if they can't spot us, and they can't spot us if we continue on foot."

"What part of 'controls half the continent' didn't register?"

"I think I'm going to have to agree with Tom on this one," Aang said, hanging upside down on Appa's horn.

"Listen, my instincts tell me that it would be better if we walk and a leader has to trust his instincts," Sokka told them in a surprisingly even tone.

"Leader?" Katara scoffed, "Who made you the leader? Your voice still cracks!"

"I'm the oldest and I'm a warrior," Sokka said fervently (so fervently that his voice cracked). He collected himself and responded in an almost comically deep voice, "So, I'm the leader!"

"I'm seventeen if anyone's wondering," Tom reported easily.

"… I'm the oldest who's been here the whole time."

"Oh, well, that just settles it then."

"If _anyone's_ the leader it's Aang," Katara interjected. "I mean, he _is _the Avatar."

"Are you kidding? He's just a goofy kid!" Sokka scoffed.

Aang was still hanging from Appa's horn, "He's right!"

"Why do boys always think someone has to be the leader?" Katara asked, exasperated by her brother. "I bet you wouldn't be so bossy if you kissed a girl."

Aang let the banter continue as he stepped up to Tom. "This is a bad idea, isn't it?"

"You have no idea…" Tom turned back to the Water Tribe siblings, "I don't suppose we could settle this democratically?"

"Will you guys just trust me?!"

"Fine," Katara conceded, mostly because she didn't want to argue anymore, "We'll try it your way 'O, wise leader'."

"Who knows," Aang said, already with a backpack, "Walking could be fun!" It didn't take long for him to change his tune. "Walking stinks! How does anyone get around without a flying bison?!"

"Well I don't know Aang, maybe you should ask Sokka's instincts." Despite her tiredness, she was reveling in the opportunity to tease her brother.

"Very funny," Sokka sneered, "but the important thing is that we're safe from the Fire Nation." They moved past some bushes right into the middle of a Fire Nation army camp.

"Well, I hate to tell you I told you so…"

The group tried to run the way they came, but a firebender among the soldiers blasted the foliage in their path. They were surrounded on three sides by hostiles and on one side by fire. "Let us pass and we promise not to hurt you!" Sokka warned.

"What are you doing?" Katara whispered to him.

"Bluffing," he whispered back.

The firebender, probably the unit commander, scoffed. "You promise not to hurt us?" Suddenly there was a whoosh and the firebender dropped like a rock.

"Nice work, Sokka," Aang complimented, "How'd you do that?"

"Uh, instinct?"

"Look!" Katara pointed into a nearby tree. In it was a figure with a blowpipe. He discarded the weapon and, using a pair of twin hooks, landed right on a pair of Fire Nation soldiers. Still with the element of surprise, he tripped up two more soldiers with his twin hooks and sent them careening into their unconscious commander.

"Down you go," the figure, a boy who looked around Tom's age, said. He had shaggy brown hair and wore light combat gear under an orange shirt that blended in well with the dry leaves. In his mouth was a piece of grass he seemed to be chewing on.

Before the rest of the soldiers could react, more people attacked from the trees. A ragtag band of warriors that wouldn't be out of place as a roleplaying game adventure party. The soldiers attacked, but the ambush was too swift. Tom, Aang, and Katara leaped into the fray, though every time Sokka was about to take on one of the soldiers, someone else took them out. One of the soldiers lunged at Tom with a spear. He easily avoided it. Before the soldier could pull back his spear for a second attack, Tom snatched it near the head and bashed the shaft with his forearm, causing it to snap. The soldier stumbled back and was sent flying by a kick to the chest. Tom noticed a soldier, also with a spear, sneaking up on the warrior with the twin hooks. Despite himself, Tom tossed the spear tip in his hand at the soldier. His aim was true and the soldier's weapon was ripped from his hand. The warrior turned from his last opponent to see Tom knock the soldier out.

The warrior gave a quick nod in solute and, again in spite of himself, Tom returned it. There was only one soldier left, and it was easy for the warrior to deflect his attack. He easily vaulted over his foe, sending the soldier face-first into the ground. His momentum carried him forward, he stopped right in front of Katara. "Hey," he said intimately.

"…Hi," she returned.

"You just took out a whole army almost single handed!" Aang complimented the warrior.

"Army?!" Sokka scoffed, "There were only, like, twenty guys!"

"And it was hardly single handed," Tom added.

The warrior seemed to take that as a cue and introduced himself and his companions. "My name is Jet. And these are my freedom fighters…"

Tom couldn't help but be sour. He'd really wanted to avoid Jet. Now he'd have to take him down. On second thought, Tom decided, I can make due with that…

* * *

><p>And here I thought I was going to get this all in one chapter. I kind of went a little crazy with the details, for better or worse. Now I'm kind of worried I'll be able to tell the rest of the story in one chapter. I've had enough pacing issues with this one, I don't need any more! All that said though, I've just thought of a great way to conclude the next chapter. I'm not want for ideas, just the skill needed to execute them.<p> 


	11. That Which Corrupts, part II

Yeah, I have a pretty good vision of how this story should shape up. The key is going to be compressing the scenes that contain plot points. Another interesting article of this chapter (specifically this second part) is that for the first time I'm not giving any exposition or defining any new character points. For right now, I'm just telling a story. This may be the first time I've ever done that at all.

* * *

><p>Jet's "Freedom Fighters" scavenged the Fire Nation camp. What was found was mostly unhelpful. Apparently, the Fire Nation army traveled light. They did, however, find several barrels of "blasting jelly". Tom inspected it to find it was basically snot-green napalm. Not entirely surprising. It didn't take long for Aang and particularly Katara to be taken in by Jet's charms. They decided to join Jet at his hideout. It was a tree house that could only be accessed by a pulley (or Aang's airbending) system that was reminiscent to the lifts used by mobile suits from the Mobile Suit Gundam franchise. The ride was a little brisk, but since Tom already knew how use it, he didn't have as hard a time as Sokka.<p>

The hideout was a small tree house city. Most of the small, one room houses were connected by wooden bridges and different levels could be accessed quickly by zip lines. It all seemed very professional and well thought out. Too well thought out for a bunch of teenagers and children Tom decided. It must have been found and repurposed by Jet. None the less, it was impressive. It was easy to understand how one could have a hard time finding it if they didn't already know where it was.

As they walked, Jet explained a little about who he and his companions were and what they were doing. He also mentioned why; most of his companions had been touched in a negative way by the Fire Nation. "What about you?" Katara asked. Jet stopped and let the group pass. Tom and Katara were the only ones to hear Jet's motivation.

"The Fire Nation killed my parents," he said flatly, "I was only eight years old. That day changed me forever."

"Sokka and I lost our mother to the Fire Nation," Katara sighed, her eyes cast down.

"I'm so sorry Katara…"

Katara realized something and looked up. "Oh, I hadn't told you yet, have I Tom? Sorry."

"It's alright. Dwelling on a loss like that will only eat away at you."

"Sounds like you're speaking from experience," Jet noted, "What's your story?"

Tom smiled. "It's not nearly as interesting as either of yours. And besides, I'm depressed enough as it is!" He gestured to their surroundings, "We're in a tree house city. This is every little kid's dream, we should be having fun!" Tom's joke seemed to lift Katara's spirits at least. He really didn't care much about Jet's state of mind, though he smiled too.

The community in the tree house city was fairly large and surprisingly well organized. The fact that most of the food at dinner was non-native and thus probably stolen from the nearby town was lost to all but Tom. The speech Jet gave during the meal didn't exactly thrill him either. Better fictional orators came to mind, like Lealouch Vi Britannia and Zechs Marquees came to mind. Huh, two mech pilots… If Sokka's attitude was sour, Tom's was apathetic. That was his default though, so there wasn't really anything to notice. Sokka's mood did improve when he was invited along on a "special mission". Tom was invited along as well. Jet seemed to be impressed with Tom, perhaps for the skill he had shown earlier in the day.

The "special mission" turned out to be simply lying in wait in the tree along a forest path. Jet, Sokka, and Tom waited in one tree overlooking the path, while two others, the gargantuan "Pipsqueak" and the young knife fighter Smellerbee, waited in another, just out of sight. Jet signaled the two with a birdcall. When it was returned, Sokka drove his knife into the tree they were in.

"What are you doing?" Jet enquired.

"It amplifies vibrations…"

"Good trick."

Only a few minutes passed before Sokka raised the alarm. "Someone's coming… I think there's just one."

"Good work, Sokka," Jet whispered, sending another birdcall and drawing his twin hooks, "Ready your weapon."

A figure did appear, but it was a harmless old man in red robes and carrying a small travel bag. Sokka tried to call the attack off, but the old man being Fire Nation was more than enough of an offence for Jet. He dropped down in front of the clearly harmless traveler, threatening him venomously. When the old man tried to run, he was met with Pipsqueak and thrown to the ground.

"Please, let me go," the old man begged, "Have mercy!"

"Does the Fire Nation let people go?!" Jet demanded, "Does the Fire Nation have mercy?!" Jet moved to kick the old man, but Sokka caught his Jet's leg with his club.

"Jet he's just an old man!"

"He's Fire Nation," Jet returned, "Search him!"

"But he's not hurting anyone."

"Have you forgotten that the Fire Nation killed your mother? Remember why you fight!"

"What are _you_ fighting for, Jet?" Tom shot back, showing more emotion than Jet was used to from him.

"I fight for justice. The Fire Nation destroyed our homes, so we're taking something back!"

"That sounds more like revenge to me."

"So what if it is!"

"We got his stuff, Jet," Smellerbee reported.

Tom turned his attention to her and Pipsqueak. "That make you feel strong? Robing the defenseless?" He shoved Smellerbee's shoulder, the surprisingly aggressive act distracting the two long enough so that they didn't notice his hand slip into the bag for a moment.

"What's the matter with you?" Smellerbee demanded.

"Yeah," Pipsqueak agreed, "I thought you were on our side!"

"I'm on the side that protects people."

"Tom's right," Sokka said to Jet, with whom he was arguing, "This doesn't feel right."

"It's what has to be done," Jet finished strongly, "Now let's go." Sokka was reluctant to leave the poor old man, but Tom waived him on. Once they were alone Tom offered the old man a hand.

"Gonna live?" Tom asked kindly.

"Yes, thank you young man," the old man said, "What's an honorable knight like you doing with thugs like that?"

"A knight?" Tom chuckled.

The man shrugged, "I'm old fashioned. And thank you again."

"Oh, before I go," Tom handed something to the old man, "Here's your stuff back." Tom got a look at the contents of the bag as the old man looked them over. They were some kind of documents. "You lost your bag, but you kept your…"

"Financial records, bless you. I'm a banker, you see. You've truly saved me. And your friend as well."

"Well, we try."

"But trying to defend everyone isn't easy. You end up making a lot of enemies that way."

Tom started on his way into the shroud of the woods. "Well," he said with a smile, "who said the life of a knight was supposed to be easy?" With that he vanished into the trees.

Tom found Sokka back at the hideout. They both decided that it was time to leave. After an hour or two, Aang appeared from one of the zip lines, just as enthusiastic as ever, Katara right behind. "Is Jet back?" she asked in a particularly chipper mood.

"Yeah, he's back," he responded crossly, "But we're leaving."

"What? Why?"

"Your boyfriend Jet's a thug."

"No he's not!"

"He beat and robbed a helpless old man!"

"Well, he didn't actually hit the guy," Tom interjected, "But that was only because Sokka stopped him."

"I want to hear Jet's side of the story," Katara said, totally unconvinced.

"You told them what happened but you didn't tell them he was Fire Nation?" Jet said easily.

"No," Katara said accusingly, "They conveniently left that out."

"That's because it was irrelevant," Tom returned.

"He was a harmless civilian," Sokka added, "He couldn't hurt a fly!"

"He was an assassin, Sokka," Jet said, producing a knife that seemed to be more decorative than dangerous. "There's a compartment for poison in the knife," he explained, rather convincingly in fact, as he unscrewed the compartment. "You helped save my life, guys."

"I didn't see any knife!" Sokka returned.

"That's because he was _concealing_ it."

"Where was that?" Tom asked knowingly.

"What?"

"Where did he have the knife? You didn't lay a finger on him. Unless you count knocking his walking stick out of his hands."

"It was in his bag."

Tom smiled, "Liar."

The accusation seemed to cut Jet deep. He probably hadn't been met with any moral opposition since he started his marry little band of highway robbers. "Excuse me?!" he gasped, standing bolt upright, "How dare you accuse me of…"

"The bag was empty," Tom said with confidant certainty. Jet's fairly obvious flinch was all Tom needed to let him know he got everything. "You tried to rob an eighty-five year old accountant and you couldn't even get that right!"

Jet, not taking the joke well, closed with Tom and tried to make him back down. He _didn't_ flinch and the two of them ended up almost nose to nose. "You looking for a fight, tough guy?"

"Better be careful, I can actually fight back."

The tension reached a head, and just before someone threw a punch, a blast of cold air washed between them. "Starting a fight won't settle anything," Aang said with surprising strength.

"Look," Katara said calmly, trying to defuse the situation, "even if this one situation wasn't handled well, it doesn't mean that Jet isn't a good person."

"Is that so?" Tom's ire beginning to surface. None in the room had really seen him angry like that. "You're not a freedom fighter, you're a terrorist."

"I'm whatever I have to be," Jet returned.

"And I'm leaving!" Sokka added, "I'm going back to the hut to pack my things. You coming Tom?"

"With pleasure."

Tom and Sokka packed their gear as they waited for the other half of their party to return. "You think they'll listen to us?"

"Well, I'm hoping Aang'll listen, but Katara's pretty smitten with Jet," Tom replied dejectedly, "And she _is_ your sister."

Sokka turned to him and raised an eyebrow. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"I'm thinking stubbornness runs in the family." Tom couldn't help but snicker at the sour look Sokka shot him. Just then, Katara and Aang burst in.

"We can't leave now with the Fire Nation about to burn down this forest!" Katara implored.

"Working with Jet is a mistake," Tom said tiredly, "Have I ever given you a reason not to trust me?"

"Well, you almost tried to rip Jet's head off just now for no reason." Tom just rolled his eyes and returned to packing his effects.

"I'm sorry, Katara," Sokka said, sounding much more calm and rational than usual, "Jet's very smooth, but my instincts tell me we can't trust him."

"Well _my_ instincts tell me we have to stay a little longer and help Jet," Katara's tone was absolute.

"Well, it couldn't hurt to just stay to help out with the forest fire, could it?" Aang asked, seeming to be the only open-minded one left in the room. There was a pause at the group mulled it over. Finally Tom spoke up.

"Fine," he said calmly, "We'll stay and stop the fire, but that's it."

Now it was Katara who had a decision to make. "I suppose we have to leave sometime…"

Sokka grabbed Tom's shoulder and spun him around. "What are you doing?" he whispered.

"I'm concerned about that Blasting Jelly Jet got his hands on," Tom returned, hushed.

"Oh, good point…"

"What are you two whispering about?" Katara asked suspiciously.

Sokka turned around like a bolt of lightning with a big, comical grin. "Nothing, nothing at all." He shook his head quickly, seemingly to shake out the silly. "We'll stay a little longer," he continued seriously, "But we have to get Aang to the North Pole.

"Great!" Aang grinned, "It's decided!"

That night, Tom and Sokka stayed awake. Tom was sick of sleeping through important events and he knew the explosives would be moved tonight. It was only a few hours before sunrise when they saw Jet and a few of his cronies sneak out of the hideout. Careful not to disturb the sleeping Aang or Katara, they crept out and after Jet. With him was a cart carrying the red barrels they had salvaged from the Fire Nation troops.

They stopped on a cliff overlooking a dam protecting the village below from the river's flood waters. Almost immediately, Jet reveled the real reason he wanted the reservoir filled. "Jet's going to blow up the dam?!" Sokka gasped, perhaps a little louder than he should have.

"I say we end this now," Tom said in a low voice that almost seemed to be a growled.

"We can't take them on all at once," Sokka whispered back, "My instincts say we should go to the town. We should be able to make it in time."

"Your instincts, huh?" Tom asked, almost jovially, "They haven't exactly been spot on lately."

"Well, I figure they're past due."

Tom smiled. "Town it is."

Just then they heard rustling behind them. Tom and Sokka jumped out of the way just in time as two of the freedom fighters tried to ambush them. The broke for the path, Jet and his entourage in toe. "Don't let them get to the hideout!" they heard Jet shout.

"On my signal, dive into the bushes," Tom told Sokka. They looked over their shoulders to see Longshot knocking an arrow. Tom let heat build all around them both so the whole path behind them was hot as a mid-summer's day. "Now!" he called. Just as Longshot let the arrow fly, the heat Tom produced created a heat shimmer in the new morning sun. As he and Sokka jumped out of the path, they seemed to vanish like a mirage.

Jet, stumped by the disappearing act, ordered the group to spread out and find the "traitors". Once they left the area, Sokka and Tom extracted themselves from the leaves. "Good trick," Sokka complimented.

"I try," Tom returned. "Now to see a man about a flood."

The two made good time toward the town. Most of the townsfolk were up and going about their day, and noticed the two strange boy that burst into town.

"Who are you?" a Fire Nation soldier demanded, leveling a spear at Sokka.

"The freedom fighters are going to blow up the dam!" Sokka shouted with all the air left in his lungs. The townsfolk just laughed at the notion.

"Then why don't you stop them yourselves from 'blowing up the dam' with their bows and rocks!" one of the villagers mocked.

"Look at how they're dressed!" another shouted, "I bet they're with those miscreants!"

The soldiers were just about to arrest them when a voice Tom and Sokka recognized spoke up. "Wait!" the old man from the day before shouted, "I know these boys. We can trust their word."

"You know them?" a soldier asked skeptically.

"They were with those bandits that attacked me, but they stopped them from harming and robbing me. They're good boys, and if they say those ruffians are going to destroy the town, I believe them!" He turned to Tom and smiled, "That's at least one friend a knight can make.

The populace seemed unsure, so Tom turned to the soldier who seemed to be in charge. "Look, if we're wrong, it's embarrassing for us and inconvenient for you. But if we're right…" Tom let the implication hang. It was all the soldier needed. He started organizing the evacuation. Once most of the town was to safety, Tom spoke to some of the soldiers. "If we move quickly, we might be able to save the town. The terrorists are using Blasting Jelly to destroy the dam. If you guy can get it far enough away from the structure, the town won't flood." A few of the soldiers were convinced and started toward the dam. Tom turned to Sokka next and spoke to him quietly. "You get Appa. I don't want to give any explosives back to the Fire Nation so we might need a quick getaway." He nodded and disappeared back into the forest as the last of the villagers made it to high ground.

Tom joined the soldiers at the dam. Between him and the six soldiers, they were able to get the Blasting Jelly a safe distance from the dam. Just as they finished moving the material, Tom heard a familiar birdcall. "Incoming!" he yelled to the soldiers. They ran and dove out of the way, but Tom stayed put. He threw a blast of fire at the flaming arrow meant to light the barrels. The bolt disintegrated into ash far from its target.

The soldiers, who had scattered impressively far, reassembled and started toward the barrels of Blasting Jelly. "You're a hero, son," one of the soldiers called, "Who are you?"

Tom smiled and held his hand up. The soldiers, taking the signal, stopped a safe distance from the explosives. Then Tom backed up a safe distance and called back to them, "Just a passing knight who doesn't want to see these explosives used on anybody." He snapped his fingers and a little spark of fire darted from his finger to one of the barrels, causing them all to explode. The soldiers, too far to be seriously injured, but close enough to be thrown back a foot, picked themselves up as the flames died down to show that strange "knight" again. "Remember," Tom said in a strange accent, "this is very dangerous. I am professional Russian." When the soldiers saw Appa land to pick him up, the realization seemed to hit them harder than the shock wave. "And as always," he called from Appa's back as the party took off, "have nice day!"

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><p>More dialogue heavy than I expected. I like it, but it'll probably see some major revisions when I get back around to it. The advantage I had was that I didn't have to hit any specific beats in this chapter. It freed me up to tell the story in a more story driven way. A good deal of Dragon Knight may end up that way, but that has yet to be seen. I also note this story tends to have <strong>really long chapters<strong>. Make of that what you will.


	12. Those Who Question, part I

Post Turkey Day update! Anyone outside America doesn't care, but I do. This is another chapter that really doesn't have any specific story to tell. I don't really have any idea about what the length is going to be like. I'm hoping to get this banged away in one chapter. That's fairly likely since I'm not starting at 8 PM on Friday. (Of course, it's 8 PM on Thursday, but that's not the point.)

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><p>The party was approaching the Great Divide, a massive canyon in the Earth Kingdom. Tom and Aang had been out foraging for the better part of the afternoon, leaving Katara and Sokka to set camp. When they returned, they found chaos. The tent was on the ground and the area was covered in stray sticks. "Where's the campfire?" Aang asked, "And what happened to the tent?"<p>

"Why don't you ask Miss Know-It-All, Queen of the Twigs?" Sokka scoffed sarcastically.

"Well you're Mr. Lazy Bum," Katara shot back, "King of the… Tent!" With the last word, she chucked one of the stray stick, striking Sokka on the head.

Tom had little patience for the sibling quarrels, they happened quite a lot. Aang on the other, only chuckled. "Okay, listen guys; harsh words won't solve problems. Actions will. Why don't you just switch jobs?" The siblings were fine with this and got to work. Aang was pleased with his mediation skills. "Settling feuds and solving differences. All in a day's work for the Avatar."

"Most problems aren't so easily solve," Tom warned.

"Maybe, but I've never met a dilemma I can't handle." The noticed Appa and Momo fighting over a piece of fruit that looked like some kind of ridged melon. Aang took it and split it so that Appa got about 90% of it. Momo didn't like that at first, but Aang reminded him that Appa had five stomachs. "Told you."

"I'm not saying you're not good," Tom conceded, "I'm just saying you're not Henry Kissinger is what I'm saying."

"Who?"

"Famous negotiator from where I'm from." Tom thought for a moment, knowing how Aang would end the impending feud. "Then again, it might be more appropriate to compare you to General William Westmoreland."

That didn't really mean anything Aang so they finished setting up camp and turned in early. When the sun rose the next day, they were close enough to walk to the edge of the Great Divide. It was so massive you had to strain to see the other side. It wasn't shockingly deep, but the fall would almost certainly kill you. There were all kinds of rock formations within the canyon like pillars of stone, hills and valleys within the valley.

"I could just stare into it forever…" Katara said dreamily. It took about two seconds for forever to come for Sokka.

"Okay, I've seen enough."

"How can you not be fascinated, Sokka?" Katara asked her brother, who was already climbing on Appa, "This is the biggest canyon in the entire world! Tom, you think it's interesting, don't you?"

He shrugged, "It's okay."

"Only 'okay'?! What could be more beautiful and breathtaking than this?"

Tom started counting off on his fingers, "The Great Barrier Reef, Mt. Everest, most of Alaska… I mean, if it weren't for the fact that I'm as displaced from my home as I am, this would have trouble making it on my top twenty."

"Well, maybe it'll have a better chance once we see it from the air," Sokka said dismissively, "Let's go." Before he could climb up into Appa's saddle, a strange young man in white and yellow robes shoved him out of the way.

"If you're looking for the canyon guide, _I_ was here first!" the panicy and overdressed man said.

"Canyon guide," Katara repeated curiously, "Sounds informative."

The white-robed man scoffed, "He's more than a tour guide!" Sokka, had snuck up behind the man and had started mocking him for his past transgression. "The canyon guide is an earthbender and the only way through this canyon! And he's taking _my _tribe across next!"

"Calm down," Sokka said, passing the none-the-wiser man, "We know you're next."

"You wouldn't be calm if the Fire Nation destroyed _your_ home and forced _you_ to flee!"

As they were talking, another group sauntered up. Unlike the man in the clean white robes, they seemed much more feral adorned in animal skins. There were as many as thirty of them and they were led by a burly woman carrying what looked like a giant meat cleaver on her back.

"Is that your tribe?" Katara asked, pointing at the incoming group.

"It most certainly is not! That's the Zhangs. A bunch of dirty thieves! They've been the enemies of my tribe for a hundred years…!" As the Zhangs approached, the white-robed man whistled at them. The disrespectful act seemed ill-advised as the children in the group looked bigger than him. "Hey Zhangs! I'm saving a place for my tribe, so don't even think about stealing it!"

"Where are the rest of the Gan Ghins?" the woman leading the Zhangs asked disrespectfully, "Still tidying up their campsite?"

"Yes!" the Gan Ghin shot back, "but they sent me ahead to save a spot!"

"I didn't know the canyon guide took reservations," the woman leading the Zhangs said mockingly.

"That's just the kind of mistake I'd expect from a messy Zhang!" the younger man shot back, either not picking up on the sarcasm or ignoring it, "So unorganized and ill prepared for a journey." Just as it seemed that the Zhangs were about to descend on the lone Gan Ghin, a pile of boulders lifted itself out of the way, revealing a dirty but chipper man in his forties.

"Sorry for the wait, youngsters," the canyon guide said with a smile. "Now, who's ready to cross this here canyon?" Tom couldn't help but noticed a southern drawl he hadn't when he watched the show. Where would someone pick that up, he wondered?

As for the canyon guide's question, Katara tried to supply the answer. "One of them, I think," she said, pointing at the Zhangs and lone Gan Ghin.

"I was here first!" the Gan Ghin pointed out, "My party's on their way!"

"I can't guide people who aren't here," the guide said apologetically. The Zhangs were about to enter the canyon when the Gan Ghin spoke up again.

"Here they come!" he said happily, pointing at a group dressed like him. In the lead was a man who looked a little older than the canyon guide. Right away they got into a petulant argument about whether the sick or the elderly got preferential treatment. Most of the argument was slinging insults, though.

"Think you can talk these guys down, William?" Tom asked sarcastically. He was unsure, but Katara made the decision for him.

"Listen up," she said before pointing at Aang, "This is the Avatar! And if you give him a chance, I'm sure he'll come up with a compromise that will make everyone happy."

Everyone looked to Aang expectantly. "Well… you could share the canyon guide," he said, pointing out the blindingly obvious. The reaction was an instant rejection from both sides, siting their bitter hundred year long feud.

"Um, the alternative is dying," Tom pointed out over the drone of disapproval.

"Traveling with those slovenly thieves is a fate worse than death!" the Gan Ghin leader barked, more at the Zhangs than Tom.

"We wouldn't take one step alongside those prissy tyrants!" the Zhang leader returned with the same fervor.

"I doubt you'll think this is a wise decision after you've been lit on fire," Tom continued. Without missing a beat, the unanimous roar of disapproval rang out. Tom threw up his hands in defeat. "I'm out of ideas, I say we leave them to their fate."

Aang had another plan; "Alright, here's the deal! You're both going across together and Appa will carry your sick and elderly! Does that sound fair?" It didn't even take a glance at the tired faces of the tribes' frailest members before both tribe leaders agreed. All pleased with the arrangement, they all prepared for their long journey. As Aang was preparing Appa for his part, Sokka approached him.

"Do you think it's a good idea getting involved in this feuding tribe business?" he asked.

Aang smiled sheepishly, "Honestly? No. But when am I ever sure?"

"Making peace between people is his job, Sokka," Katara said, patting Aang on the back.

"His job is going to make us cross this whole canyon on foot, isn't it?"

"Don't worry, Sokka," Tom said with an incredulous smile, "It'll get much worse."

"That's comforting…"

"I know, right?"

Just as Aang sent Appa on his way, the canyon guide lifted himself up on a pillar of stone. "Okay, here comes the bad news: no food allowed in the canyon. It attracts dangerous predators!" There was another roar of disapproval, but having spent his entire life ferrying people across the canyon he took it all in stride. "Aww, you babies can go one day without food, can't you? We're heading down in tem minutes. All food better be in your gut or in the garbage!"

The no food rule seemed to cut Sokka the deepest. "Told you," Tom grinned.

The Zhangs and Gan Ghins ate all they could in ten minutes and they set out after that. There was a convenient trail down the side of the cliff, most likely summoned by the canyon guide years ago. The trek wasn't too hard, but with the uneven ground, there was no way the sick _or_ elderly were going to get through the massive formation. After about halfway down the wall, they had to stop so the canyon guide could summon a stone bridge out of the cliff face. "Nice bending," Aang complimented.

"The job's more than bending, kid," the canyon guide explained before turning to the group. "Many of you are probably wondering how canyons are formed. Experts tell us that this canyon was carved by earth spirits that were angry at local farmers for not offering a proper sacrifice."

"Canyons aren't formed by earth spirits," Tom grumbled loudly enough to be heard.

"Oh, really? Then how are canyons formed Mr. Expert?" the canyon guide asked. He didn't sound angry so much as curious to what this strange young man's explanation would be.

"It was a river." There was a chorus of disbelief all around. The idea even seemed preposterous to Aang who had at least been told a little of the amazing science discovered in Tom's far off world.

"How could a river carve a canyon?" Sokka voiced the general consensus of the group. "I mean, water is so wimpy you can walk through it! How could that cut through rock?"

"Thanks a lot, Sokka," Katara grumbled under her breath.

"It would have happened over hundreds of thousands of years," Tom began again, "Perhaps millions. The water slowly wore down the stones a gain of sand's worth at a time. That's why stones in rivers are rounded. Over time the river cut deeper into the rock without filling up that space. Eventually the river dried up and only the riverbed was left. That's what a canyon really is; a giant dried up river. See these striations?" Tom said, running his hand along the side of the canyon wall. There were what seemed to be layers of different colored rock. "These are all the different layers of sediment deposited by the ancient river. It's like a window into the long-dead past."

"Maybe it was the earth spirits that made the river carve the canyon?" the canyon guide suggested. By now he was just as enthralled as the two tribes at this new explanation for one of the mysteries of life.

"If it all happened at once, magic or otherwise, wouldn't the canyon be mostly uniform and bowl-shaped?" Tom gestured out to the various rock formations in the canyon, "Those are tougher rocks that were stronger than the loose material they were surrounded by. The river couldn't wash them away, so they remain."

The canyon guide laughed. "You're pretty smart kid. Don't know if you're right or not, but it certainly sounds good. You should head to Ba Sing Se and get your theory to them scholarly folk in the middle ring!" Tom was actually hoping that knowledge was already accepted by "them scholarly folk", but he appreciated the compliment.

As they continued down the path, Katara spoke to him privately. "Do you really think water can be that powerful?" she asked him.

"I know it can," he answered easily. "Water has the power to create and the power to destroy. It all depends on the direction it flows." She smiled and hugged him for the compliment. Tom flinched at the unexpected contact.

It took them a good twenty minutes to get down one side of the canyon. No one was really tired from the effort, but most were certainly daunted. "Now everyone stand back from the wall!" the canyon guide said before hurling a boulder at the bridge he had created, destroying it.

"Why did you do that?" Aang asked curiously.

"These people are fleeing from the Fire Nation. Got to make sure we can't be followed…"

Tom saw a silhouette appear in the dust of the collapsed bridge behind the canyon guide. He dove, pushing him out of the way before a four eyed and legged beast snapped its jaws on him. "What are those things?!" Sokka gasped.

"Canyon crawler!" the guide said before he and Tom turned at a sound behind them. The last thing Tom saw was a giant spider-like leg swinging toward him.

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><p>Bad End. Return to your last save point.<p>

Just kidding, to be continued. So yeah, this is a two parter, but not because of laziness as I had feared. This just ended up being worthy of two parts. I'm not against this. I don't mind having to split episodes of the show into multiple chapters as long as I'm not doing it because I'll miss my deadline if I don't. Of course, no one's given me an opinion about that, so I don't know if I'm just burying my head. Where I'd be doing that is yet to be determined…


	13. Those Who Question, part II

I am happy to say I'm starting this _way_ ahead of my deadline. That's really good since I've got a lot of story left to tell. I'd really rather not have to do a part three. I suppose that wouldn't be the worst thing in the world, but I'd like to avoid it.

I can't believe I have to say this **yet again**, but please don't spam my review box. Don't pipe up unless you've got some constructive criticism. Hell, at this point, I'd take flames at this point. It's better than hearing the "good chapter, update soon" noise I seem to get so much!

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><p>Tom's first conscious thought as he started to wake up was "pain". He didn't know how long he was out, just that his head felt like it was splitting open. His eyes fluttered open, snapping instinctively shut when the light of the sun blasted him. "He's waking up!" he heard Katara call as Tom hoisted himself slowly up.<p>

"We've really got to stop meeting like this," Tom groaned, his friends surrounding him with looks of concern.

"Good to see you're still in one piece, buddy," Sokka said, giving him a hand up. Tom rubbed his head and noticed something was wrapped around it, "You took a nasty hit to the head, but the Zhangs and the Gan Ghins patched you up."

Tom looked to the two tribes throwing accusations and insults at each other. "They work together just long enough to get something done before they get right back to calling each other rude names? Are we sure they aren't some kind of bizarre extended family? Or congress?"

The canyon guide walked over when he noticed Tom had woken up. One of his arms was in a sling, but it was just resting there to keep it stable. "How you feeling, youngster?"

"Like my head's in a vice," Tom said honestly.

"Better than being canyon crawler chow!"

"You said it," Tom agreed fervently. He motioned to the guide's wounded limb, "Your arm?"

"Recon it feels like it's caught in a vice," he said with a chuckle, "but it's only a sprain."

"Can you still bend like that?" Aang asked worriedly.

"Enough," the guide retuned, "But I don't think I'll be much help if we get attacked by any more of those crawlers."

"Just as long as you're both alright," Katara said to the guide and Tom. "I've got a feeling that we'll be needing both of you to get out of this canyon alive."

In the meantime, Aang had gone to the two arguing tribes to try to get them to focus at the task at hand. It wasn't going well. Everything Aang said was used by one or the other tribe leader to accuse the other tribe of something. The argument was so petty Tom started to regret his joke about their being congress; it was getting too accurate. "Enough!" Aang ordered with a brisk gust, "I thought I could help you get along, but I guess that's not going to happen." He leapt onto a natural stone wall that split the pass they happened to be in. "We'll split up. Gan Ghins on this side," Aang dictated, pointing to one side of the wall, "Zhangs on this side." The tribes seemed to like the arrangement. After they filed into their dictated lane, Aang dropped down. "Sokka, you go with the Zhangs and Katara go with the Gan Ghins. Try to see why they hate each other so much."

"I'd like to go with the Gan Ghins as well," Tom said, "There's something I'm curious about."

"Works for me."

"I'll keep you company then, Avatar," the guide said, "After all, I'm supposed to be leading both groups through the canyon, not just one."

"Sounds good."

The group split up three ways as they continued their perilous journey. Tom and Katara integrated seamlessly into the Gan Ghin group. Tom and Katara's well-mannered and respectful demeanor quickly won the respect of the tribe. Night began to fall and forward progress was halted to make camp. The location chosen for camp was a wide flat where the rock wall that divided the two groups shrunk to a mole hill. Despite the hatred between the two groups, the Gan Ghins still wanted to be ready to jump to the aid of the Zhangs should something happen (if only for the sake of preserving human life and not any kind kindred bond that had formed during the ordeal).

Once the tribe had settled down around a campfire they had built, they all started producing food they had hidden on their way into the canyon. "Would you care for some bread, children?" the Gan Ghin leader offered.

"So it was you who had food," Katara said in surprise.

"Oh, come now," the Gan Ghin leader scoffed, "You don't really think those stinking thieves aren't smuggling food?"

"So you decided to take the moral high ground and do the exact same thing you are accusing the Zhangs of with no evidence," Tom said with notable irritation displayed in his sarcastic tone.

"You give the Zhangs _far_ too much credit."

"Why is it that you hate the Zhangs so much?" Katara asked, deciding it was the best transition to learn what she was sent to learn.

"You seem like smart kids," the Gan Ghin leader started, "I bet you would enjoy hearing some history. The patriarch of our tribe, Ghin Wai, was an earthbender warrior assigned an important duty; transporting our sacred orb from the great eastern gate, to the great western gate. Taking the orb from the east to the west represented the sun's rising and setting. It was our tribe's ancient 'Redemption Ritual'. But as he was approaching the western gate, he was attacked by one of the Zhangs. A vermin named Wai Ghin who looked at the orb with envy. The coward Wai Ghin knocked Ghin Wai to the ground and stole our sacred orb! Our people have never forgotten. You can never trust a Zhang!"

Just as Katara was working up a good fury in the direction of the Zhang camp, Tom spoke up. She knew it wasn't going to end well from the first word out of his mouth. She knew that tone and the brutally direct challenge that was coming next. "So hold on a sec, if the sacred orb was something used in your Redemption Ritual, why did Wai Ghin want it? Was it made of a precious material or something?"

"Well… no. It was made of glass," the Gan Ghin leader answered, not used to having to defend his story, "But it was very carefully crafted!"

"So carefully crafted that he could sell it for a high price?" Tom asked suspiciously.

"Very, _very_ carefully crafted…"

"I'm gonna take that as a no."

"Maybe Wai Ghin wanted the sacred orb because it looked good?" Katara supplied, irritated that she had to defend her new and refreshingly cleanly friends.

"Yeah, the Zhangs don't seem like the type for pageantry," Tom said before continuing, "And another thing, Ghin Wai was an earthbender warrior, right?"

"That's right! One of the best."

"Oh, cool. He was really skilled?" Katara knew that his seeming sudden shift wouldn't last. She covered her face in embarrassment for knowing him.

"Yes. In his day, he was unmatched by anyone who faced him in battle."

"I bet he was really in tune with the earth and stuff!"

"Indeed!"

"Then how'd Wai Ghin beat him?"

"He was- wait, I beg your pardon?"

"How'd Wai Ghin knock Ghin Wai to the ground and steal the sacred orb that was so valuable to your tribe, but just a simple trinket to anyone else, if Ghin Wai was such a good warrior?" Tom's tone had now shifted from suspicious to accusatory. The flustered leader and the confused tribespeople didn't know what to say.

Uncomfortable in the silence that followed, Katara again spoke up in the Gan Ghins' defense, "Obviously, Wai Ghin snuck up on Ghin Wai."

"Except Ghin Wai was an extremely skilled earthbender that, if he's as good as our friend here is saying, would be able to sense an oncoming ambush. I don't have a magical spiritual connection to the earth and _I_ can sense when someone is sneaking up on me! And another thing."

"Why does there have to be more…?" Katara complained.

"Did you ever get the sacred orb back?"

"Of course we did!" the Gan Ghin chief stated proudly.

"How?"

"Oh, that fool walked right into the waiting arms of the authorities right after attacking Ghin Wai. Those Zhangs never were very bright."

"Did it ever occur to anyone that Wai Ghin might have been returning the sacred orb because he found it and knew it belonged to your tribe?" Apparently the other Gan Ghins had never really thought very hard about the story. Many of them started scratching their chins and really thinking over what they had been told all their lives. Katara, on the other hand, was just as deadest as the Gan Ghin chief.

"Why are you being so critical?!" Katara demanded, losing the last bit of her patients with her friend.

"Because that story doesn't make a lick of sense! And as a matter of fact, I've heard both sides of the story before." Not even a lie of omission that time! "The Zhangs claim that Wai Ghin stumbled upon Ghin Wai who was already incaped…" no one bothered to ask what he meant by "incaped", it was clear from the context, "…and tried to help him. Ghin Wai instead insisted that Wai Ghin take the sacred orb the rest of the way into Gan Ghin territory because it was so valuable to them. But the Gan Ghins overreacted when they saw a Zhang carrying the sacred orb and arrested him! Personally, that sounds a lot more plausible than a thief that is simultaneously smart enough to beat someone who 'was unmatched in his day' and dumb enough to not only chose to steal something of no value to him, but also than run straight to the cops!"

"I simply don't understand how you could question our traditions like this…" the chief complained, "You seem so bright and yet…"

"I'm sorry, I just don't see the logic. And besides, we still haven't addressed the fact that weather or not the Zhangs did too, you smuggled food into the canyon that brought down the canyon crawler who gave me this," he pointed to the bandage, "and hurt the canyon guide that we need to get out of here."

"Well that bandage on your head is part of my own robe sleeve!" the Gan Ghin leader countered pointing to his own sleeve which did indeed have a tear in it. "Even if it was one of the Zhangs that knew how to dress your wound and not I…" he mumbled after.

"That makes up for my possible concussion." Tom got up and started to walk toward the part of the rock wall that he knew Aang was camping on. "I got what I needed. Have fun with dinner. And the giant carnivorous bugs that come with it."

Katara looked apologetically at the Gan Ghin leader, "I'm sorry about my friend. Usually he's polite, but sometimes he just starts on one of those tirades and he just won't stop."

"It's all right," the chief said, "he's a smart lad and he means well. I just wish we could have convinced him of the truth."

"Don't worry, sir," Katara said cheerfully, "I'm sure he'll come around."

Tom made his way to Aang and the canyon guide. Aang was happy to see a friendly face, he hopped down to great his sour-looking friend. "So, did you learn what you wanted?"

"Unfortunately," he replied, "The Gan Ghins have food. I suspect the Zhangs do as well, but I haven't seen their camp."

"The Gan Ghins smuggled food?" Aang gasped. He fell into an irritated expression similar to Tom's. "No wonder we were attacked…"

"We're going to have to make them part way with that food if we don't want more canyon crawlers tomorrow," the guide told them.

"I'll take care of it…" Aang said grumpily as he flew off toward the Gan Ghins. Fifteen minutes later, Aang had the two tribes next to each other again. The entire group was standing around a pile of both tribes' contraband food. "Seriously? Neither one of you could handle one day without food?"

"We only did because we knew the sneaky Zhangs would!" the Gan Ghin leader cried.

"Well we knew you would think we would smuggle food, so we did to!" the Zhang leader spat back.

"And the more food that's brought down here, the more smell there is for the canyon crawlers have to detect," Tom shouted over them. "Your mutual stupidity has only made things worse!"

"That's not important right now," Aang said, "What is is getting out of this canyon alive. We're going to have to leave all this food behind."

There was an uproar in the crowd that could have woken the dead. Tom whistled sharply to get their attention. "It's your own fault for taking it with you instead of eating it when you had the chance. Now get back to your camps. What's left of the food will be used as a decoy, so no more eating." Both tribes complained, but shuffled back to their camps. Tom and Aang stood guard over the food lest any more Zhangs or Gan Ghins decided the rules didn't apply to them. Ironically, Sokka was the only one who tried to sneak a midnight snack.

The next morning, the two camps packed up quickly. The scent of the food would attract the crawlers and they didn't want to be anywhere near them when it happened. They got to the wall without incident, but there was more bad news. "With only one good arm, I can only get one person up the cliff at a time," the canyon guide said.

This sparked yet another shouting match between the tribes. It started off as leveling blame at each other for their current predicament, despite it being easily solvable. Quickly though, it turned into just another opportunity to insult one another. At last, Aang lost his temper. "Enough!" he roared, "How many times do I have to say it? Harsh words won't solve problems, action will!"

"Perhaps the Avatar is right…" the Gan Ghin leader started. Aang smiled gleefully, thinking he had finally broken through to the stubborn feuders. The feeling didn't last.

"Harsh words will _never_ solve our problems!" the Zhang leader said, drawing her sword. It looked more like a scimitar than a meat cleaver out of its sheath.

"Actions will!" the Gan Ghin leader returned, drawing his own sword. They leveled their blades at each other and began to fight. "To the death! And let this be the end of our rivalry!" Just as Aang was about to intercede, the battle halted when the group turned at a frightening roar. As many as a dozen canyon crawlers barreled toward them from the rocks. Not as many as there were in the show, but enough.

"It must be a residual food smell on the tribes. …Else they're dumber than we thought!" Tom said to his friends readying for battle.

"That's a lot of canyon crawlers!" Katara bemoaned.

"And we could barely handle three!" Sokka added.

Tom snapped his fingers and a small flame lit. "I've had enough of these things! It's time for some fried arthropod!" He was about to blast the nearest one when Katara held him back.

"Wait! If you do that, the tribes will panic!"

Tom cursed his probably concussed brain. He had been kidding last night! "Got any ideas?" Aang asked as he fended off an impressive number of them.

"If you can't fight, get to the wall!" Tom ordered more than anything else. "If you can fight, help us hold these things off! Form an orderly line and the canyon guide will get you out one at a time! If someone cuts, send them to the back!" Since no one else had a better plan, the tribes set about doing it. A surprising number of warriors from both tribes stepped forward to fight the monsters. It was amazing how well they worked together when they had to. Without his firebending, there was little Tom could do besides get the crawlers to chase him.

Katara noticed three of the monsters chasing him, Tom running away at almost cartoonish speeds. "Are you alright?" she dared ask after finally driving one away.

"I'm kitin' 'em! Kitin' like a pro!" he gasped as one of the crawlers edged ever closer. "I put the team on my back! I put the team on my~~!" Just before Tom was about to get chomped, Aang blasted him out of the way with a strong gust. "Thank you…" he called to the airbender breathlessly. The fighting continued, but there was less and less resistance as time passed. By the time the non-combatants had all made it to safety, the canyon crawlers had all given up and went in search of easier prey. Finally, everyone was out. Tom spoke to the canyon guide. "So? You had enough of this canyon yet?"

"No, sir!" he returned with a smile. "Why, if anything, this ordeal has reminded me of how important my job is. I'll be headin' back for the next group luckily split." He rubbed his sore arm and chuckled, "Soon as my arm heals, that is…"

With both tribes reunited with their sick and elderly, they all breathed a sigh of relief. "I didn't know a Gan Ghin could get his hands dirty like that," the Zhang leader said.

"And I never knew you Zhangs were so reliable in a pinch." Her counterpart returned. For a moment, it looked like the feud was over. It again, didn't last. "Too bad we can't rewrite history. You thieves stole our sacred orb from Ghin Wai!"

"You tyrants unjustly imprisoned Wai Ghin for twenty long years!"

Aang was about to give up when something struck him. "Wait a minute. Ghin Wai? Wai Ghin? I know those guys!"

"Yes, yes. We all know the story," the Gan Ghin leader dismissed, already prepared for battle like the Zhang leader.

"No, I mean I _really_ know those guys. I may not look it, but I'm 112 years old. I was there on the day you're talking about." Aang went on to explain that Ghin Wai and Wai Ghin were actually brothers. And that they were only children playing a game. All the details of both the Zhang and Gan Ghin story seemed to fit perfectly into place, but in a perfectly innocent setting. It was all very convincing, especially coming from the Avatar. In fact, it was so convincing that the Zhangs and Gan Ghins decided to bury the hatchet. They happily decided to head for their destination as one tribe.

"That's some luck you knew Ghin Wai and Wai Ghin," Sokka said after the now united tribe had left.

"You could call it luck," Aang agreed, "Or you could call it lying!"

"You did not!" Katara smiled with admiration, "That is _so_ wrong."

"Now you're Westmoreland," Tom said patting his clever friend on the shoulder. After sharing a good laugh together, they all climbed aboard the waiting Appa and continued toward the North Pole.

* * *

><p>I got almost everything I wanted out of that. If it were my place to say, I'd call this a glowing success. Of course it isn't, but I like it all the same. On a side note, I'm jealous of Tom; I can't whistle!<p> 


	14. That Which Excludes

I'd like to get this next one done in one chapter. It's kind of hard to deal with The Storm from the third-person limited perspective I've fallen into. When I first noticed this story peeking over the horizon, I thought I'd have to cheat, but after great consideration, I think I've found a way to make it work…

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><p>Tom wasn't an early riser as it was, but the routine he had settled into was wearing on him. About forty-eight hours of adrenalin followed by almost a week of doldrums. Even all of his party's magical flying chauffer and airbender antics could keep the endless travel from growing tiresome. Tom wasn't used to this sort of thing or motivated enough to stick with one goal this long. Perhaps it was a good thing he was mysteriously trapped in this alternate (?) world…<p>

Never the less, he carried on. The group had camped near the ocean that night. The farther north they got, the less land there was to camp on. They were still some ways away from the North Pole, but there destination wasn't so far away anymore. Unfortunately, they were out of food. Again. It was actually surprising how often they had to find a market and usually barter for food.

After finally forcing himself awake, it didn't take long for Tom to see that one of those forty-eight hour adrenalin rushes was on its way. The crystal clear skies didn't fool him, he could practically feel the low-pressure system and humidity coming on the gusty and erratic wind. "Look at those clear skies, buddy," Aang said happily to Appa, "Should be some smooth flying." Famous last words.

Fortunately, the food issue was easier to solve than the coming typhoon. There was a fishing town very nearby that had a fully stocked market. With Appa docked like one of the small trawlers, the group set out to stock up at a quaint fruit stand. Despite the town's sleepy appearance, the people seemed abrasive, to say the least.

"Ach, it's good. It's perfect, I'm telling you!" the middle aged saleswoman insisted.

Katara, with whom the woman was speaking, gave the melon-like fruit an experimental shake. "I don't think I like the sound of that swishing," she said to the irritable woman.

"Swishing means it's ripe!" the woman practically growled, "It's the ripe juices swishing around, huh?"

"I think it's true, Katara," Aang said, "Swishing means it's ripe."

Katara soon decided against and put the fruit back. "I just remembered we're out of money anyway…" The woman seemed to take it well, stripping the basket Sokka had with the goods he intended to purchases from his hand and kicking him as he left for good measure.

"Out of food and out of money," Sokka lamented a few moments later, "Now what'll we do?!"

"You could get a job, smart guy," Katara suggested sarcastically.

"There's a blacksmith in town," Tom noted, "I bet that pays well."

"Do you know about smithing?" Aang asked.

"No. But I feel like giving it a try."

Before the conversation could continue, more of the charming populace of the town wandered by. An old man and woman were arguing as he made for a boat docked next to Appa. "Please, you can't go out there," the woman implored, "There's going to be a terrible storm!"

"Ah, you're crazy," the old man dismissed. "It's a nice day! No clouds, no wind, no nothin'."

"Maybe we should find shelter…" Aang suggested.

"Shelter from what?" Sokka scoffed.

"Can't you feel the humidity on the wind?" Tom asked.

"What wind?" Sokka asked before a gust blew through town.

"My joints say there's going to be a storm. A _big_ one!" the old woman emphasized, rubbing her sore hands.

"Well, it's your joints against my brain."

"Then I hope your brain can find someone else to haul all that fish, because I won't!"

"Then I'll find a new fish hauler and pay 'im double what you get!"

Sokka happily ran up to the arguing duo, "I'll go."

"You're hired!"

Katara in particular seemed perplexed by Sokka's decision to start a new career. "What?" he asked, "You told me to get a job."

Tom started back into town, waving the incident off. "I'll be in the blacksmith's. Call for me when there ship is sinking in the storm." He got all of twenty steps into town before the massive, ominous storm clouds started to gather from the north. He entered the smith and was greeted, unsurprisingly with a blast of heat. There was a man inside working on something in the furnace. When he felt eyes upon him he looked up. He was thirty something with dark hair and a short cut beard. "What do you want?" he grumbled, whipping sweat and soot from his brow in a blackened mess.

"I'd like a little work if you have it," he asked cordially.

"Got experience?" the smith asked, sounding at least a little intrigued.

"No, but I'm a quick study. I can just be an extra set of hands until I can do it on my own."

"Got some guts comin' in here and asking that."

"I've got nothing to lose if you say no," Tom told him easily. "And if I mess anything up, I you can just not pay me."

"I am down a man…" the smith considered. After a moment he nodded, "Okay then. But I ain't gonna babysit you. And I won't just not pay you if you cost me too much, I'll take it out of your hide, got it?"

"As well you should." Blacksmithing, unsurprisingly, was a job not meant to be done alone. At first Tom was mostly relegated to keeping kilns hot enough. But as the next few hours passed, he was doing more and more. Getting tools, preparing molds, even helping to pour molten steel. Near the end of the day he was making smaller things like fishing spear heads (nearly) faultlessly all on his own. The smith was duly impressed, but Tom shrugged off any praise. The truth was that he loved to tinker anyway. While he had never worked at a blacksmith before, but he had done things like build tools and blow glass. His unusual list of skills was wide and growing quickly. Especially in recent years.

It was upon realizing that that Tom came to an odd, and a bit sad realization. He was so seamlessly woven into this grand adventure, and yet he was still so other. No one was hearing the sob story of his life. And no one on the entire planet he was standing on could understand it even if they did. It was the story of his life, he told himself. Perhaps it was true, though this time it wasn't self-inflicted. Tom refocused on his work. He in his dark sense of humor decided that there were too many sharp objects in the room for him to start along that road.

"I can't believe I caught up on all my overdue orders!" the smith said as he was dousing the kilns. "You're pretty good for an amateur."

"I like to be good at what I do. But before you put out all those fires, I'd like to make another request."

"You sure do ask a lot," the smith noted.

"I want to make a sword for myself," Tom told him, "I'm a traveler, and I'd just feel safer with a weapon."

The smith shrugged, "Why not. Just don't burn my shop down and pick up any tools of the ground if the place starts to flood or something." The storm had arrived by then and they could hear the rain pounding outside. The smith opened the doors of the shop to go home and saw the torrential weather outside. "Crimeny. And I was kidding about the flood thing. Oh, and your pay's on the table in the other room."

"You're not going to take out the cost for the sword?"

"Well, I was thinkin' I might give you a little extra for your good work," the smith explained, "so just make your sword and we'll call it even."

"Thanks, man," Tom said gratefully with a wave.

The smith parted with a lackluster "Yeah, whatever," and disappeared into the storm on his way home.

Tom got right to work on his sword. He employed all his all of the skills he earned during his hard day's work. And with the help of his firebending, he had a blade in less than an hour (managing to only get a little burn when some splashing molten steel grazed his arm). That didn't mean he was done, however. He decided the balance was off, so he heated up the blade so it was malleable and reshaped it to his liking. It was easy for him to reshape his sword-to-be. He could impart or remove heat with a thought. He had gotten good at manipulating heat thanks to all his early failed attempts at firebending. Finally it was just right. A double-edged straight sword like the rest (though a bit shorter than average), but custom fit for his hand. The blade was meticulously balanced with the grip, which he made from some high quality wood that would have otherwise been cut into spear shafts. The grip was sanded to fit each of his fingers and there was polished stone weight at the end. He could balance the weapon on one finger and if he held still enough, it would sit there like a stone. He collected a scabbard, not caring that his sword was a few inches short for it and repurposed it to hang around his waist. He never finished any of the myriad of swordsmanship classes he had taken, but none of them practiced carrying the user's sword on their back.

Outside of lamenting the fact that he didn't have the weapon to use on those damn canyon crawlers, Tom was pleased with the results. He was doing some experimental flips he'd seen in a movie or two when the fisherwoman burst into the otherwise empty blacksmith shop. "Please, you have to help me!"

"Sokka and your husband were idiots and didn't come back in time."

The old woman huffed, "That obvious?"

"My friends can help," Tom said, sheathing his sword. He grabbed the bag of coins the blacksmith left for him, doused all the fires, and lead the old woman to where he knew Aang and Katara would be. Outside of that, he wasn't much help. Though nearly drowning in a typhoon did give him an intense adrenalin rush. Just another day at the office.

* * *

><p>I hope Tom's character is coming through. I'm being intentionally veiled about his character, but I also want to make him consistently interesting. The Storm is supposed to be a sort of introspective look at two of the main characters, so I used this as a way to give a sort of mosaic look into Tom's mind rather than a more biographical one. I also had a hard time not making him seem too weepy. He's not supposed to be some ordinary guy with third-rate first-world problems to borrow a phrase from Crash Course, but I also didn't want Simple Plan's "Untitled" to start playing in the background when Tom was getting all introspective either.<p> 


	15. That Which Changes, part I

Once again my weird update schedule is getting annoying. This is going to be a two parter. I know that. But I won't be getting back to it for several weeks. Joy for you. I hope I can get back to the pattern that works. This is also going to be markedly different from the show. It should also be easy, fun, and full of action. That should fun.

* * *

><p>It only took two days after the storm for Sokka to come down with a terrible fever. It set on him quick, just some coughing at first, then his elevated temperature. Once he started hallucinating and mistaking clouds for drumsticks and stakes, the party landed lest he leap off Appa's back to his untimely death.<p>

On the ground, Katara tried her best to tend to her sick brother. Aang went out to forage for things to ease Sokka's suffering, returning some twenty minutes later. "I couldn't find any gingerroot for the tea, but I did find a map," he said, uncurling the parchment. "There's an herbalist's institute on the top of that mountain. We could probably find a cure for Sokka there."

"Sokka's in no condition to travel," Katara warned, "He just needs more rest, that's all." She was about to turn back to her brother when she started coughing herself.

"Not you too," Aang bemoaned.

"It's just a little cough," Katara assured, "Nothing to worry…" She was cut off by another, harder coughing fit. By the end of it Aang had covered his face as if to guard from an explosion and Tom had taken four full steps back.

Aang looked back up at his friend once she was done. Katara had suddenly taken a weary look to her face. "That's how Sokka started yesterday. And now he thinks he's an earthbender!" Aang said with concerned urgency.

"Take that, you rock!" Sokka said as if on cue, punching aimlessly into space.

"B-but Tom isn't sick!" Katara more complained than anything else.

Tom shrugged, "I have a heartier constitution than you do I guess."

"What do confusing legal documents have to do with Appa's fur turning into pudding?" Katara was glad she caught that comment as it gave her time to hold her sick brother from licking Appa's furry leg.

"Watch over them, Tom. I'll be right back," Aang said as he made his way toward the door. He stopped when he felt Tom's and on his shoulder.

"I'm going with you."

"I need you to take care of them," Aang shook, "I can handle myself."

"I know you can, but you're still going to need me."

Aang sighed and leaned past Tom to address Katara, "Could you give us a minute?" Katara wondered what they had to say in privet, but just shrugged as she had a sick patient to care for. The two of them stepped outside of the temple ruins they had been camping in since yesterday. When Aang saw the sky had once again filled with twisting gray, he elected to leave his glider with Appa. "What's supposed to happen?"

"You get captured trying to get the cure by Fire Nation snipers."

"Snipers? That's another word for archer, right? I can handle archers."

"Normally, yeah. But these are the best marksmen in the world and you get distracted getting the cure."

"But you said we're supposed to win. How can we win if I get caught and there's no one to save me?"

Tom shifted, trying to decide whether or not to reveal who Aang's savior is supposed to be. "You get rescued by someone you know. Not Sokka or Katara. Someone else."

Aang snorted, not able to think of anyone else he knew that was alive and in the area, "Than who? Zuko?"

"Look, I've got nothing to do here," Tom said with an irritated gesture, "Just let me go with you."

"You _do_ have something to do here. Keep our friends safe."

"They'll be fine. You won't be."

"You said that things were changing since you got here," Aang pointed out, not budging an inch, "What if a Fire Nation patrol finds them?" Tom was about to protest when Aang started to build up a gust around him, "I'll be fine. Just make sure Katara and Sokka will be too when I get back here with the cure." With that he was off like a shot, sped further by the tailwind he had summoned.

"Ah, damn," Tom cursed before returning to the sick siblings. He practiced his firebending as he watched Katara's faculties slowly get impaired. She wasn't hallucinating, but Tom had to encourage her to take a break before she poked Sokka's eye out with her shaky hands. He continued counting the seconds away until he heard Sokka mumble something.

"Tom…" Katara practically croaked through her parched throat, "Sokka needs some water…" She withdrew her water skin and stretched it out as far as she could. (Which wasn't very far.)

Tom took it and smiled at them. "Back in a flash." Tom made his way down to the river as quick as he could, safe in the knowledge that he may not be accomplishing anything but at least Momo won't have to give Katara a dead rodent. He rummaged around quickly for any frozen wood frogs, but apparently there weren't any. He got up and turned to leave when he saw something moving in the trees. He flinched into a fighting stance and that was all the figure needed apparently to let an arrow fly. Tom dodged it, but a good dozen followed it. He avoided them two, blocking some of them with firebending. Finally he caught a glimpse of red face paint. "Yu-Yan Archers?" Tom questioned. Immediately he seized on an idea. He lit a fair-sized in his palm and called out to them, "Hey! Calm down, I'm on your side!" That wasn't good enough apparently, as he had to blast another volley away. "Ah, damn." The inferno around him obscured him for a moment. When the blaze dissipated, the archers fired on the first shape they saw. They heard their arrows strike something, but it was obscured by heat shimmer. After a moment, they heard laughing echoing through the valley and the upturned log they shot came into full view. "I heard the Yu-Yan were deadeyes! You idiots couldn't hit the broad side of a battleship! Hahahahahaha~" Tom took the time needed for his mirage to disperse to get out of the water and dry/warm himself. The river he had jumped into was cold in the dead of winter!

"What's the matter?" he called out again, aiming his voice at the walls of stone around him. The sound scattered beautifully. "Hey! Where'd he go? Hahaha! Can't you find me? Maybe I'm… _right there_! Nope, that wasn't me!" Tom was hoping his taunting would sow confusion, anger, and with luck a little panic in the deadly accurate archers. His body was numb from his dip and his reaction time severely compromised. He finally got all the feeling back in his extremities as one of the Yu-Yan stuck his loaded bow out from the tree line he had been firing from. Tom grabbed the drawn arrow, causing the archer to flinch and fire. He held on to the arrow, causing it to go only a few inches. That gave Tom more than enough space to smash the archer in the nose with the back of his arrow clenching fist. He spun as his opponent was still standing and knocked the archer out with a left cross. Using the momentum from the punch to swing around again and tossed the arrow he still held into the shoulder of an archer that wasn't nearly as sneaky as he thought. (That ended up taking out two of the archers as one supported the injured one's retreat.)

There were still plenty of arrows flying, so Tom had to roll out of their way and into the forest. In the roll he also dragged the archer he dropped. Apparently the Yu-Yan _were_ angry and/or panicking, because they had taken to the "turn anything that moves into a pincushion" method of dealing with unexpectedly skilled opponents.

Fortunately for Tom, while they were excellent marksmen, they clearly had no experience against an enemy like him. When they followed him into the woods, they just stood around and gawked at their unconscious ally. It was easy for Tom to sneak up on them. He grabbed the one in the back in a chokehold, but his friends were too close to take him out without them noticing. Instead of putting pressure on his neck, Tom flung the archer face-first into a tree. The Yu-Yan were slow to respond. One knocked an arrow as he turned, but Tom caught his arm and hit him in the nose with a palm strike. In the same motion, he brought his arm back and clobbered the archer next to him with his elbow. He finished off the first by flipping him into the ground. The rest of the archers turned to see their opponent standing right behind them. They all reacted differently. Tom couldn't say how good they were when they were defending a fortress, but the clearly weren't trained for this kind of combat (or at the very least, didn't have experience in this kind of combat). Some of them tried to clobber Tom with their bows, while others tried stabbing him with arrows. Both attack types were easily countered. Some of them were even dumb enough to try to knock arrows and shoot at him. Of course, with no room to aim, they didn't hit a thing. Tom got the distinct impression that the Yu-Yan weren't used to shooting at a target anywhere near as close as he was. The smart among the archers ran from the fight to try to get a better firing position.

As the easy prey went down and the smarter ones opened fire again, Tom disappeared in another heat shimmer. Every time he did that friends and foes alike were surprised. Apparently summoning mirages wasn't something that ordinary firebenders did. The idea filled Tom with quite a bit of pride as he systematically hunted down and knocked out the remaining Yu-Yan Archers one by one. At some point "You Should Have Listened to My Warning" started playing in his head as he choked as many as six people unconscious.

Eventually there was only one archer left. And both parties knew it. The archer heard a twig snap and buried an arrow into a tree. "What-!" he jumped at another sound, "What are you?!"

"I'm game over for you buddy…!" The archer turned around to see his foe not a foot away and in a bizarre stance. "Hadouken!" And with that the fight was over. The Hadouken at the end was just for fun. It was clear the archer were not on top of their game since they made so many mistakes. That said, Tom's heart nearly stopped when he saw the sheer number of holes in his clothes. It'd be a lie to say there wasn't a bit of luck in Tom's victory. Also, his shirt was in shreds. "Ah, damn."

With all the Yu-Yan either unconscious or limbed off somewhere, Tom decided to salvage what he could. He only took one bow, a few quivers full of arrows, and some medical supplies they had on them though. He was going to grab their money too, but it felt too much like he was just robbing him when he did. Sure they picked the fight, but it still sat wrong with him. It was about then that he remembered why he was out there in the first place. He realized he had dropped the full water skin somewhere and had to spend another five minutes trudging around the forest to find it. "Ah, damn."

Finally he started on his trek up the cliff to his sick and thirsty friends. What an ordeal that had been. All he wanted was six liters of water and he ended getting in a small war. At least he got a nice bow out of the deal. He breathed a sigh of relief at the sight of the temple ruins. Until he heard Appa roar and saw a Fire Nation soldier fly out the entrance on a blast of air.

"Well, fu-"

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><p>There we go. That was exactly what I wanted to do. Enjoy the suspense people who are reading this as I update it! I really don't think I can complain about this chapter, I'm happy with it. Please tell me why I'm wrong, if you would. I'm serious; where is this chapter not as good as I think it is?<p>

If you're wondering what "You Should Have Listened to My Warning" is, you've not played Batman: Arkham City and you should feel bad about it. (All kidding aside, Arkham City is _exactly_ as good as its hype. Highly recommended.) "You Should Have Listened to My Warning" is a song by Nick Arundel that plays whenever Batman is stealthily beating the ever-loving daylights out of gun touting bad guys. Also recommended.


	16. That Which Changes, part II

Here we go again. Starting on Friday… In my defense it's not my fault this time! But yeah, the mad rush begins. Fortunately the extra time has allowed me to get the ideas more solid in my head. We'll see how it turns out. Good news is the one after this should be one chapter, so I won't be off next time.

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><p>Tom took cover in the rocks just in time. A good twenty Fire Nation soldiers rushed out of the temple ruins to avoid another blast from Appa. Tom grumbled angrily, not least of his complaints that Aang had been right after all. What the hell was he going to do now? It was clear the Fire Nation troops weren't giving up just because of a giant plush toy monster was throwing small hurricanes at them. Tom had to come up with something fast. Then he seized on an idea.<p>

He looked down at his clothing. Good, but not perfect. He tore longer rips in his shirt and pants, from arrow hole to arrow hole. Now it looked like Tom had nearly been cleaved by a sword rather than turned into a pincushion. He dropped the water skin, bow, arrows, and other supplies and put on his best first-victim-in-a-horror-movie face. The soldiers were readying for another charge of the temple when Tom noisily ran up to them.

"Oh, thank goodness I found you!" he gasped, running up to just outside of spear thrusting distance.

"Who are you?!" one of the soldier demanded.

Tom looked down at his clothes as if he had forgotten what he was wearing, throwing in a jump at the tears for good measure. "Oh, right! The Earth Kingdom rags. I'm special agent Ryu Tanaka." There was murmuring amongst the group at Tom's comment.

"You're with the intelligence division?" one of the soldiers gasped. Apparently Tom had picked a good cover.

"I _really_ shouldn't be telling even you this, but yeah. Extenuating circumstances have arisen and I need help."

"How do we know you aren't just trying to get our guard down?" another soldier asked suspiciously.

"I work intelligence, I don't have credentials," Tom shrugged causally. "But I need to get out of dodge anyway. You can escort me to the nearest base after we deal with that monster…"

"You mean that thing?" one of the soldiers pointed inside the temple. Tom looked around the corner and leaped back in feign shock. To Tom's private relief, Appa didn't have a scratch on him. He knew Appa could handle a small army with ease, but it was still good to see that he was alright. As for Katara and Sokka, they were curled up together in the back of the temple, safely behind Appa. They still looked sick as dogs, but they were otherwise unharmed.

"What is **that** thing?!" he gasped.

"It's the Avatar's Flying Buffalo," one of the soldiers remarked. Tom elected not to correct the apparently common mistake.

"The Avatar?" Tom said, scratching his chin happily. "That's a high value target to be sure…" He shook his head, "No, we don't have time for this. I was attacked by some crazy guy in armor. I only got away because he found another target, some platoon of archers or something, but now they're in trouble."

"I still think this guy's a spy!" a suspicious soldier called from the crowd of about twenty. "Er, I mean I think he's not our spy! The Avatar is supposed to have three companions, not two. How do we know you're not one of them?"

Before Tom could respond, a firebender in the group spoke up. "Wait, you said your name was special agent Ryu, right?" Tom nodded. "This is the guy I told you all about. He's the one who infiltrated Ba Sing Se and stole the troop movement orders right out from under the noses of the Earth Kingdom generals!"

Now it was Tom's turn to shoot a suspicious look. "How did you know that? That operation is still supposed to be classified."

"Oh, I know. But I got special permission to look at the after action report. That intelligence you stole saved my cousin. I just had to learn about the man who did it." Now Tom felt bad. By sheer coincidence he was impersonating this guy's hero. Oh well. Such is the nature of the fog of war. "We can trust him." Tom nodded. "Just, before we continue, I wanted to compliment you on your firebending." There was something off about the comment. And the reactions were strange among the soldiers.

Tom smiled questioningly, "I'm not a firebender. It's why I got into intelligence."

The firebender nodded approvingly. "Right. Of course. What was I thinking?" The entire group suddenly seemed at ease. Apparently Tom guessed right. "So what happened, sir? You mentioned a monster?"

"Right, I was attacked. He had this goofy looking armor and a cape."

"A cape, sir?"

"I know, it sounds stupid. But he was good. He knew who I was and a really good firebender too. He did this rippley thing and disappeared like a mirage." Tom looked down at his tattered clothes, "As you can see, I barely got away."

"You mentioned a platoon of archers?" one of the soldiers asked, "I bet that's the Yu Yan Archers. Admiral Zhao enlisted them to capture the Avatar."

Tom nodded, "I've heard of the Yu Yan. They're good."

"Do you think they can handle this knight of yours?"

"I think they would appreciate some assistance post haste."

"Well, we can't just leave the Avatar's animal and companions. Should we split up?"

The group mulled it over. Well, Tom only looked like he was mulling it over. His plan was working, shockingly. It was the first thing that had gone right today! "How about this. Most of you can go down into the valley and support the Yu Yan." Tom gestured down at his tattered clothing, "With all due respect, gentlemen, I think I've done my part dealing with that guy." The group nodded in agreement. "I'll stay up here with a few guys and keep an eye on the Avatar's supporters. If you get back quick, we'll be able to get two birds with one stone."

"Excellent suggestion, sir. We'll divide into teams…" The firebender who vouched for Tom started organizing the soldiers. In a few minutes, all but five of the Fire Nation soldiers were in the valley. Those who remained eyed Appa cautiously.

Tom snuck up behind the firebender and sighed, "Do forgive me." Before the firebender could turn around, Tom clubbed him in the back of his head with his fists. The other four warriors turned just in time to see Tom knock one of them out with a roundhouse kick. The last three readied their spears, but Tom was too close for such weapons to be effective. They were out cold in seconds. Once the Fire Nation troops were no longer a threat, Appa calmed down. "How you doing, big guy?" Tom asked happily. Appa returned with a light grunt. Tom turned to Katara, "Still need that water?" She nodded dumbly. "Back in a flash." This time he made good on his word and handed the water skin to Katara within a hundred and twenty seconds. With that he stored the medical supplies he had gotten off the Yu Yan archers (since they were for wounds and not sickness) and then changed out of his tattered Earth Kingdom clothes and into his old clothes. Once all that was done, he looked around the outside of the temple. Sure enough, he found some supplies of the Fire Nation troops. Food, more medical supplies including medicine (though Tom wasn't going to give his friends strange medicine before knowing what it was, so they'd still have to wait for the frogs…), and; "Ohh! Explosives! It must be my birthday!"

Tom set up the explosives along the trail that lead up from the valley to the temple. He then brought all the unconscious soldiers together in a pile. The cliff was too steep to climb, but probably not leather if you were to fall off it. _Probably_. Tom smiled back at Appa, loaded bow in his hands. "I think we should give these back to their friends," he nodded at the unconscious soldiers with a smile. Appa happily obliged, sending them on a blast of air into a clearing in the forest below. The Fire Nation troops that Tom sent on the wild goose chase arrived and helped the frequent flyers onto their feet. Suddenly they heard a voice shouting at them in a strange accent, "G'day!" An arrow landed between the feet of one of the stunned soldiers. Tom may have been a better shot with a gun, but one of the advantages of all the free time he had by ditching school was that he was still a practiced shot with a bow. The soldiers looked up in the direction of the shot to see Tom and Appa grinning down at them, Tom's jacket flapping in the breeze like a cape. Sure, he wasn't in armor, but it got the message across. Some in the group made for the path, but Tom acted before they even made it a full step. "Nope!" Tom snapped his fingers in the direction of the path, sending a spark from his fingertip to the explosives he set. Of course to the Fire Nation troops, it looked like Tom just snapped his fingers and summoned a massive explosion. The path was still passable, but it didn't look it. Finally, Tom knocked another arrow and took aim. "Wave goodbye ta yer heads, wankers!" he called down to them in that strange accent, Appa throwing in a roar for good measure. The Fire Nation troops didn't stick around to launch a counterattack.

With all that done, Tom stretched and yawned loudly. The sun was starting to set. He and Appa trudged sleepily back inside the temple. Tom pulled out his sleeping bag and crawled inside. "Aang will be here with the cure tomorrow morning. Wake me up if there's another crisis." And with that he was out like a light.

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><p>Okay, this was worth it. I think I pulled it off, but of course, I'm not thin skinned. At the very least I enjoy it and would love to hear how I could make it even better.<p> 


	17. That Which Grows

Trying to get this done this week has been a challenge. That thing called life kept happening despite my best efforts. Still, this chapter should be fun, quick, and easy. We'll see.

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><p>It was amazing how long it took Sokka and Katara to get over having to suck on frozen wood frogs. It was a week before they took anything Aang handed them at face value. Eventually they got over the repulsion and got on with business as usual. Though Tom insisted that his Earth Kingdom clothes were a lost cause, Katara did her best to sew them back into one piece. They had made camp the night before by a calm river and were just finishing breakfast when they started hearing splashing behind them.<p>

In a pool by them, a large, green, catfish-looking thing was jumping out of the water. And with a rather smug look on its face it seemed even to Tom. "Oh, he is taunting us," Sokka growled. "You are so going to be dinner!" Sokka moved quickly to retrieve his fishing pole, but when he tried to cast, he found that there was no line. "Hey, where's the fishing line?"

"Oh, I didn't think you would need it Sokka," Aang said, holding up what used to be a fishing line. Now it was braded and had a small flower affixed to it.

Sokka groaned, "It's all tangled!"

"Not tangled, woven," Aang assured, "I made you a necklace, Katara." Aang presented the necklace with a smile "I thought since you lost your other one…"

"Thanks, Aang," she said with a smile as she accepted it, "I love it."

"Great," Sokka grumbled, clearly lamenting the loss of his fishing line, "Maybe instead of saving the world, you can go into the jewelry making business."

"I don't see why I can't do both."

Sokka, turning his attention back to the fish, tried to spear it with his now useless fishing pole. That went about as well as one would expect. In desperation, he waded into the water with his knife and started stabbing at the fish. It was all quite amusing to Tom who watched from the shore. "You're never going to get it like that," Tom snickered at Sokka futile effort.

"Yes I wi- gah, I dropped my knife!" Finally, after flailing around for a few minutes, Sokka managed to wrap his arms around the swift fish. He pulled the struggling fish out of the water and looked over at the shore. He noticed Aang complimenting Katara after she put on the necklace he made her. "Smoochie, smoochie. Someone's in love," he teased before the fish broke loose and wacked him in the head to Tom's great amusement.

"Stop teasing him Sokka," Katara scolded, "Aang's just a good friend. A sweet little guy. Just like Momo…" Aang didn't seem too happy about the compliment, not that Katara noticed as she pet the lemur in question.

Aang trudged over to Tom, who was still amusing himself with Sokka's futile attempts at catching the fish by hand. "I thought you said that was going to work out," he grumbled irritably.

"It will," Tom returned, "I didn't say you wouldn't get friend zone'd in the meantime."

Before that could go any further and as Sokka retrieved his knife and gave up on the fish, they heard a roar. The group rushed down the riverbank and around a rock to see a middle-aged man being attacked by a platypus bear. Which, to Tom's irritation, looked exactly as stilly in person as it did in the show. A bear simply lost its intimidating profile with a bill, webbed feet, and a beaver tail. After a few moments of Aang, Katara, and Sokka giving all kinds of silly advice (including mythical ways of fending off bears, sharks, and crocodiles (most disproven by the Mythbusters)), Aang decided to intercede. Oddly enough, throughout the whole event, the man insisted that nothing was wrong.

When Aang's airbending wasn't enough to scare the bear off, Appa decided to intercede. It was a keen reminder of just how big Appa really was. The platypus bear was as big as any grizzly, yet Appa dwarfed it. The bear, knowing its better, slinked away quickly into the river.

"You're lucky we came along," Sokka told the traveler who had just had a brush with death.

Just as chipper as before, the man spoke with a calm smile. "Thanks, but everything was under control." Sokka didn't seem convinced. "Aunt Wu predicted I would have a safe journey. She's the fortune-teller from my village. Awful nice knowing your future."

"That explains why you were so calm!" Katara said, seeming very enthusiastic about the idea of a fortune-teller.

"But the fortune-teller was wrong!" Sokka said, quick to rain on their parade, "You didn't have a safe journey, you were almost killed!"

"But I wasn't," the man said with a smile. He bowed and bid them farewell, but before he left, he handed something to Aang. "I almost forgot, Aunt Wu told me to give this to any travelers I met along the way." With that the man walked off without a care in the world.

"Maybe we should see Aunt Wu and get our fortunes told. It could be fun!" Katara suggested.

Sokka was much less enthusiastic, "Oh, come on. Fortune-telling is nonsense!"

Aang in the meantime was unwrapping the gift the man had given them. "What do you know?" he said, popping the item open, "An umbrella." The moment he put it up the rain began.

"I think my skin is starting to prune…" Tom lamented.

"That proves it!" Katara said happily as she got under the umbrella.

"No, it doesn't," Tom and Sokka said in unison. The conversation continued as the group started toward the village. "Of course Aunt Wu predicted it was going to rain, the sky's been gray all day," Sokka grumbled.

"And an umbrella is a useful thing for travelers anyway," Tom agreed. "If you give someone something vaguely useful, they'll find a way to _make_ your prediction come true."

"Just admit you might be wrong and you two can come under the umbrella," Katara offered.

"Look," Sokka said dismissively, "I'm going to predict the future now: it's going to keep drizzling." They waited a moment and it did. "See?" The instant he said that, however, the rain stopped.

"Not everyone has the gift, Sokka," Aang said, looking up at the clearing sky.

"That's just the universe's passive-aggressive hatred of him," Tom returned, getting another amusing reaction from Sokka that entertained the group until they arrived at the village.

The village itself was clean and lively. Overlooking it was a tall mountain that looked suspiciously like Mount Fuji. Not quite a magnificent as Fuji for Tom, but still picturesque. There was no need to ask for directions to Aunt Wu's. It seemed that the town was built around one building and with all the people happily coming and going, it was easy to tell where the fortune-teller was. A man was standing at the lovely door of Aunt Wu's place. "Aunt Wu is expecting you."

"She is?" Katara asked happily before going inside. Neither Tom nor Sokka were impressed.

Inside, they met a girl about Aang's age; Meng, Aunt Wu's assistant. She took an immediate liking to Aang, complimenting on his big ears. Tom didn't really care. After Meng left, Sokka continued to voice his decent. "I can't believe we're here in the House of Nonsense."

"Give it a rest, Sokka," Tom said calmly, "I'll lift the curtain and show the wizard for what she really is in a few moments."

"Oh, come on, Tom," Katara implored, "If Aunt Wu really _can_ predict the future, maybe she can help you find your way home."

"What? And ruin the plot?"

A few moments later, Aunt Wu arrived. "Welcome young travelers. Now, who's next?" Aunt Wu was a healthy, spry, older women; the picture of one's golden years. And she had a welcoming quality about her that made you feel like she really was your own aunt. A true professional.

Katara decided to go first, so Tom had to wait before he could test out his own "fortune-telling" skills. Of course, Aang had to eavesdrop, claiming he had to go to the bathroom. Sokka was too busy enjoying the free snacks to care.

Aunt Wu and Katara returned a few minutes later. "Alright, who's next?"

Sokka got up from his reclined position "Okay, let's get this over with…"

"Your future will be filled with suffering and anguish. Most of it self-inflicted." The matter-of-fact tone that Aunt Wu took was the best part of the fortune.

"But you didn't even read my palms or anything!"

"I don't need to. It's written all over your face." Sokka wasn't too happy about his fortune, but Aunt Wu decided to move on. "My, my," she said at Tom, "It's not often I get someone from the Fire Nation…"

"Swing and a miss," Tom said with confidence.

"You're not from the Fire Nation?" Aunt Wu asked, surprised. Tom nodded. "But I do sense strong ties to the Fire Nation…"

"Strike two. Never set foot there, no family there."

"B-but you're a firebender, aren't you?"

"There you go!" Tom said, lighting a candle-sized flame with a snap of his finger. "And you can tell is someone's a bender. Interesting. You can't tell magically, can you?" Aunt Wu wasn't sure how to react as Tom doused his flame. "No, you can tell just from someone's body language. You learned it during your extensive world travels."

"How did you know?" Aunt Wu gasped. Sokka, Katara, and Aang were equally stunned.

"Because you just told me," Tom smiled, "And because I'm pretty good at what you do myself."

"Tom, you're a fortune-teller?!" Katara gasped.

"It's called profiling. Tell your mark something vague and watch the reaction. If you're good enough, you'll look like you're reading their mind and can tell them anything they want to hear. And everyone loves a good fortune."

Aunt Wu chuckled. "You are a very clever young man. And it's good to know how to spot those _false_ fortune-tellers out there."

"Right. False." Tom turned to leave, "Have fun with your fortune, Aang. I'm going to see if I can find a part time job for while we're here." With that he was gone.

"Your friend sure is a strange one," Aunt Wu said after he had left.

"You have no idea…" Katara grumbled, hoping that one day Tom wouldn't verbally attack someone she just met and liked.

The rest of the day was spent doing odd jobs. The town seemed oddly love-crazy, so there were plenty of dull jobs to do. Tom didn't bother with the cloud reading. He went through four shops worth of work and made quite a lot of money. He and his friends would be set for quite a while.

Tom was ready to call it quits when he felt a rumble. It wasn't that bad, but he knew what it meant. He found his friends in the town square, trying to convince the townsfolk of the imminent eruption. Of course it wasn't going well. Aang seized on the idea that they should alter the clouds to forecast volcanic doom. The plan worked.

The town rallied as the lava started to pour down the side of the mountain. With the power of the earthbenders, the villagers were able to build a trench wide and deep between the volcano and the village. With luck, the lava would flow into the river and cool. Luck was not on their side, however. The lava overflowed very quickly. Embers threatened to splash over the wall and catch the village alight. Aang's airbending blocked many, but all were surprised when it seemed that Tom was airbending as well.

"How are you doing that?!" Aang asked perplexed, though not too perplexed to stave off the liquid fire.

"Heat is just rapidly moving air," Tom explained as he blasted globs of lava back into the channel. "By manipulating heat waves, I can create small air blasts."

"Are you saying firebenders can airbend?!" Sokka gasped.

"Not really. I can only throw small blasts of hot air. Basically what I do whenever I open my big mouth."

Jokes aside, it was a desperate situation. It was abundantly clear that the trench wasn't long or deep enough. Katara and Sokka, not seeing anything that could be done, left the wall protecting the village and started the run for safety. Tom and Aang stayed put however.

"If you can hold it off for a bit, I can harden it," Aang said with a laser focus on the oncoming destruction.

"Done."

Rocks from the erupting volcano started landing in the river of fire and causing huge waves. Tom blasted the waves back with blankets of fire, the force of his flames pushing the lava back one wave at a time. Seeing that Aang was ready with his move. Tom blasted the river of lava back with everything he had, lifting it up in an ark away from the village. Aang unleashed a blast of air that cooled it on the spot.

With the crisis averted, the two benders relaxed. Well, Aang relaxed. Tom collapsed in a heap gasping for breath. "Come on, man," Tom said between gasps, "You're making me look bad."

"I guess your hot airbending isn't as good as the real thing, huh?"

"I think I just got burned…" They shared a laugh as any of the remaining lava was channeled away from the village by the barrier they had created.

"Sometime I forget what powerful benders those two are…" Sokka said, watching them laugh off the narrowly averted apocalyptic scene.

"Wait," Katara asked in surprise, "What did you just say?"

"Nothing, it's just with Aang being just a kid and Tom not even knowing he was a bender 'till he met us, it's easy to forget just how powerful they really are. Come to think of it, Tom's been getting stronger every day. They're both really amazing."

"Yeah… I suppose they are…"

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><p>I was <strong>so<strong> tempted to be lazy and turn this into two chapters, but NOPE! I like this all in all. It got a bit hard at times, but I like it. I think I like 16 better just for the Sniper references, but this is still a fun one for me. Tell me what you think as long as you have something useful to say.

Edit: That's what I get for not proofreading. Missed a very~~ serious typo.


	18. Those Who Anticipate

I did it again. With Dragon Knight no less. It's kind of annoying because I've been looking forward to this one for quite a while. Ah well. This and the next one should be easy enough to write. And fun too. Hopefully you're in for a treat!

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><p>It started with a whale tooth sword. Sokka, showing impressive detective skills, followed the trail of the battle the sword was lost in as if he had seen it himself. Eventually, Sokka lost the trail in the shifting sands of the beach. Sokka was downtrodden at losing the trail until Katara spotted something a bit down the beach; a Water Tribe boat.<p>

"It's one of ours!" Sokka said as he and Katara rushed over, Tom and Aang close behind.

"Is this dad's boat?" Katara asked, recognizing it.

Sokka observed the boat carefully. He knew the ships of the Southern Water Tribe well, anticipating the day he'd be on one. "No… But it's from his fleet. Dad was here."

Because it was the closest Sokka and Katara had been to their father in years, they asked to camp near the boat in the hopes that he would come by. Of course they all knew how unlikely that was, but Aang and Tom agreed all the same. It was late that night when they had an unexpected (to most) visitor. He was a Water Tribe member, thirties, strong, with hair and complexion like Katara and Sokka. He had a bandage over the left half of his body.

"Bato?" Sokka questioned. The Water Tribe members ran to embrace each other. It seemed their waiting at the Water Tribe ship paid off.

Aang and Tom approached the reunion. "Hi, I'm Aang," the Avatar introduced with a light bow.

"Tom," the other nodded.

The reunited Water Tribe members started to catch up when a winter wind gusted past. "This is no place for a reunion. Let's get inside." As Bato lead the siblings away, he motioned for Aang and Tom to follow. The whole way to where Bato had been recovering from his injury from the battle with the Fire Nation, an abbey that made perfume, the three Water Tribe members caught up. Even as they sat down around a pot of stewed sea prunes they were still on about old times. It was hard for Tom or Aang to get a word in edgewise not knowing any of the stories of the pre-involved Southern Water Tribe. Not that Tom said that much anyway. Better yet, Tom shared Aang's less than positive opinion of the stewed sea prunes. Must be an acquired taste…

Aang took it harder than Tom. He tried to get into the conversation, but there was nothing to say. Eventually he gave up and left when Sokka and Katara mentioned how much they wanted to see their father. Of course that caused him to miss the addendum that Katara and Sokka would never abandon Aang no matter how much they wanted to see their father. Tom contemplated telling Aang to just hand over the map the next time he saw him, but ultimately decided that Aang best not be around for the initial ambush of June and her shiershu.

It couldn't have been more obvious that Aang was hiding something when he returned. It never ceased to amaze Tom how bad those three were at acting…

The Water Tribe members talked late into the night about old times. If the conversation shifted to new, Tom was asleep before it came up. The next morning Tom caught up with Aang. "Got mail?" Tom asked nonchalantly.

Aang sighed sadly. "I should have known better… I should give them the map, shouldn't I?"

"I think that's up to you. Do you really think your friends would abandon you?"

"Well… no, I don't. But I'm too scared to risk it. That's dumb isn't it?"

"Yes," Tom said bluntly as he spied the Water Tribe members leaving the abbey.

Aang followed Tom following the Water Tribe members back to Bato's boat. The light mood darkened a bit at the mention of "ice dodging".

"You must have some good stories from your first time ice dodging, Sokka."

"He never went," Katara spoke for him, "Dad left before he was old enough."

"Oh, right," Bato remembered with them, "You were too young."

"What's ice dodging?" Aang asked. This time he was actually graced with an answer.

"It's a rite of passage for young Water Tribe members," Bato explained. "When someone turns fourteen they…" He paused and put his hand on Sokka's shoulder with a warm smile. "You know what? You're about to find out."

Instead of Aang, Katara, and Sokka, Tom was drafted. Apparently the South was just as egalitarian as the North. That is to say not. In any event, the main sail was Tom's responsibility now. The wind was strong and erratic at its best, giving the sails a mind of their own. Tom was sure he'd have rope burns after this event was over. He was able to keep control with great effort and they were able to weave through the rocky shore to the joy of Bato and Katara. After passing a discomforting number of wrecked ships, Katara suggested the boys stop. And with good reason.

"There's no way through!"

Sokka wasn't hearing any of it, "We can make it!"

"Sokka, you've already proven yourself…" Bato assured.

"Aang, I want you to bend as much water as you can between us and those rocks. Tom, use that hot air thing you do to get some extra air in those sails."

"I think there are some Newtonian Physics Laws that say that won't work…"

"Just do it…"

Hell, what could it hurt?

With a smooth surge from below, the boat was lifted above the natural level of the sea. One could feel the drop on the other side as they passed the rock and the speed that followed from the slope. Once the boat was docked and checked for holes poked by the tips of any rocks (there were none), it was docked and Bato mixed a special dye.

"The spirits of water, bare witness to these marks," Bato said with pride, you'd think that Sokka and the others were _his_ sons. "For Sokka," Bato said as he drew a symbol on Sokka's forehead with the dye, "the Mark of the Wise. The same one your father earned. For Tom, the Mark of the Brave. Your courage is an inspiration to us all." Boy, if he only knew… "And for Aang, the Mark of the Trusted. You two are now honorary members of the Water Tribe."

"…I can't," Aang said shamefully as "the Mark of the Trusted" sunk in.

"Of course you can," Katara returned with a smile.

"No," Aang backed away from them, wiping away his mark. "You can't trust me."

"What are you talking about…?"

Aang reached into his robe and pulled out a crumpled piece of paper, "You have to understand… I was afraid you would-" As Aang spoke, Katara took and unfolded the page. Sokka immediately recognized it.

"This is the map to our father! You had it the whole time?! Well, you can go to the North Pole on your own. I'm going to find dad." Sokka began to storm off, ignoring Bato's protests. After a few steps, he turned. "Katara? Are you with me?"

Katara considered it, clearly not wanting to make a decision. But what choice did she have? "I'm with you, Sokka."

"Tom?"

"I see nothing to gain by following you," he said easily, "I'll stay with Aang."

Sokka scoffed and turned again, "Whatever."

The group had already parted ways. Aang moped as he and Tom prepared to continue their journey on their own. "So that was just about the stupidest idea of all time, huh?" Aang asked as he secured Appa's rains.

"Oh, I've seen worse…" Tom assured as he finished packing up the saddle.

"Like what?"

"Bungee Jumping. Worst thirty-six seconds of my life."

Suddenly one of the nuns at the abbey rushed over to the two boys on the sky bison with a worried expression. "Avatar! You have to leave!"

"I get it already, everyone wants me gone…" Aang lamented.

"A group of people came to the abbey looking for you," she explained. "A fierce-looking woman riding a terrible monster, and a young man with a scar…"

"Zuko…!"

"They were tracking you with the scent of a necklace…"

Aang's eyes lit up with realization. "That's why you let me hide the map! You _wanted_ us to get separated!"

"Now you're catching on," Tom replied.

"Couldn't you have just… Ah, never mind. We have to save them!"

For the second time that day, the shiershu burst through the gates of the abbey, destroying them utterly. It however suddenly had trouble tracking its target. The shiershu had never hunted flying prey before. As Aang buzzed the monster, causing it to fall and spill its riders, Tom burst out of one of the buildings. He focused his attack on Zuko, who was already looking ready to counterattack. Tom only got off a few close range attacks before a whip wrapped painfully around his arm with a crack.

Before Jun the lovely bounty hunter could rip the whip away sharply, Tom wrapped it around his arm and got a strong grip on it. With a jerk, he pulled June to the ground and her whip from her hand. She got up quickly only to see her whip burning to ash.

"Now I don't have to fight a lady," Tom smiled politely.

"How chivalrous of you," she grinned back as she pulled another whip from an innocuous pouch on her belt. "Pity for you I have a spare."

"Oh, damn."

Jun attacked Tom again with her spare whip, forcing him to roll out of the way and not much else. She held him at bay until they both turned to the explosion from Aang and Zuko's clash. June used the opportunity to ditch that fight and run to help her shiershu, who was losing to Appa. Tom decided not to peruse and instead go after Zuko, who had landed on the roof of the abbey. He used the fire jets he remembered another character introduced later and was impressed with himself when it worked. He vaulted up onto the roof of the abbey just as Zuko recovered. Zuko launched a few quick attacks that were easily avoided, though Tom couldn't land a hit either. In his frustration Zuko threw a sloppy kick that Tom was able to deflect. He was hoping that the sloped roof would cause Zuko to fall off, but he slid off instead and landed on his feet. He looked back at the roof to see a flaming black shoe hurtling toward his head. There was no time to dodge, but to Tom's lament, Zuko shrugged off the attack flames and all.

"Why are you smiling, traitor?"

"I'm smiling?" Tom asked honestly, he hadn't noticed. "I don't know. Anticipation? But so far you're not really living up to your hype. Are you not taking me seriously?"

"I wasn't," Zuko confirmed, summoning his fire daggers. "Now, unfortunately for you, I am."

"Yeah! Now it's a party!"

They rushed at each other, Tom only barely dodging the daggers. Zuko was unbelievably dangerous with those. He should have used them more! Zuko saw an opening, he swung with the intent of ending the fight right there, but Tom disappeared like a mirage as the fire dagger passed through his face. Zuko felt a sharp blow to the back of his head. This one _did_ hurt. He spun to attack, but Tom was able to dodge the first attack. He didn't even see the second until Zuko's flaming foot connected with his chest. Tom went flying, Zuko jumping after him. Tom hit the ground and vaulted back up in one motion, kicking at Zuko and knocking something off his belt. Before Zuko could attack again, Aang got in his way and blew him back with a hard gust. Unfortunately, Jun and her shiershu followed and the three of them pinned Tom and Aang against one of the walls of the abbey. There was little Appa could do to help with all the shiershu venom; he could hardly walk. Fortunately, the Water Tribe siblings came to the rescue. Sokka seized on the idea of blinding the shiershu (which somehow saw with its nose, however that worked) with the abbey's perfume. Katara waterbended the gallons of perfume onto the creature, confusing and enraging it. In its stupor, it inadvertently paralyzed Jun and Zuko with its venomous tongue. Zuko's Uncle Iroh feigned paralysis for a chance to cuddle up close to Jun. Not an unlucky man…

Tom and the others decided not to stick around the abbey for too long. The shiershu's venom lasted only an hour after all. Tom couldn't help but smile at the bond between Aang and the Water Tribe siblings. They set a course for the North Pole, Aang happy to finally give Katara her necklace back. So that was what fell off Zuko's belt…

"What are you smiling about?" Sokka asked a little later as he bandaged up the slash around Tom's forearm from where Jun whipped him.

"I was smiling? I don't know. Anticipation…? I've got a long way to go. And I can't wait for round two!"

* * *

><p>Wow, am I cutting this super close. But I think this is worth it! I'm going to go on the record and say this is the best chapter of anything I've ever posted! I love this and it was super fun to write. My only issues is Tom stealing Katara's job (but I don't know enough about sailing to B.S. a fourth job for him) and I think the ending is a little weak. Still, as far as I'm concerned, this is rock solid. Tell me why I'm wrong, please.<p> 


	19. That Which Reflects

I can't believe I'm actually working ahead for once. In any event, it's a good thing I am, because there will be a lot to write here. I'd best get to it before I find an excuse to procrastinate…

* * *

><p>A few days had passed since the encounter with Zuko. It was already hard enough for Tom to get to sleep at night, but now it was nigh impossible. He had never fought someone as tough as Zuko. It wasn't the fire, either. In those few seconds when he went all out, he seemed untouchable. It was like a challenge to Tom.<p>

But that was all a matter for another time. For now, the North Pole was the group's goal and that was still a long way off. They stopped late one day by as kiosk displaying posters and notices about local events.

"This should tell us what's around here," Katara noted the small construct.

"See if you can find a menu," Sokka asked, shaking crumbs out of a bag Tom thought he had hidden well. "I'm starving…" He casually tossed the bag aside.

"You ate all out food _again_!?" Tom demanded. Sokka was a fine enough sort, but his propensity to ingest anything edible in sight was starting to put a strain on the group's resources.

"No problem," Aang chirped in his usual chipper tone. He jogged over to a bright poster on the kiosk, "The Fire Days Festival! Fire Nation cultural exhibits, jugglers, benders… This could be a great place for me to study some real firebenders!"

"You might want to rethink that, Aang," Sokka warned on the other side of the kiosk. The others followed to the other side. There were several posters displaying wall drawn portraits of several people and one that looked like a demon.

"Hey, a poster of me!" Aang noted chipperly. He plucked the page depicting himself from the wall to look it over.

"A wanted poster," Sokka noted strongly.

"Maybe we should keep moving?" Katara suggested.

"I'll have to learn firebending at some point. This may be the only chance I have to study the masters up close."

"And I could stand to learn some actual firebending techniques," Tom added.

"I guess it couldn't hurt to check out the festival…" Katara tenuously decided.

Sokka wasn't convinced, "You want to go into a Fire Nation town while they're all fired up with all their… you know, fire?"

"As much as I'd like to agree with you, Sokka," Tom shrugged, "But after that fight with Zuko and the bounty hunter, I need to step up my abilities."

"We've escaped Zuko before," Sokka scoffed.

"You haven't gone toe to toe with him when he's serious…"

"Don't worry, Sokka," Katara assured, "We'll wear disguises. And if there's trouble we'll leave."

"Right… Because we _always_ leave before we get into trouble."

Tom wasn't sure why the others thought dark hoods seemed like a good idea at the "Fire Days Festival". Tom didn't bother to do anything with his wardrobe, though to be fair, he did know there were going to be Fire Festival masks just inside the town gate. The festival was rather fun as Tom wandered around with his friends. The firebending magician was very impressive. Somehow the show seemed longer in person. Who knows, maybe it was. Finally the magician called for a volunteer and Katara got drafted. The cheesy "taming the dragon" performance of course wasn't enough to tip off Aang that Katara was never in any danger. Tom intended to stop him from bursting on stage, but the airbender was far too quick.

"Hey! That's the Avatar!"

Fantastic. As so often happened, the chase began. However, tonight they had a guest. Someone in a cloak that managed to be even more conspicuous than what the Water Tribe siblings had been before they got the masks. Still, the man was good with the smoke bombs he was chucking at the persuading soldiers. The group ran into an alleyway as Aang called Appa with the Bison Whistle he had bought some time ago. Unfortunately the alley they had run into was a dead end. Before the soldiers could close in Appa arrived. He blew the soldiers away and the group made their escape. A nice touch was when the new guy tossed as smoke bomb into a cache of fireworks and set them off.

"You sure know your way around explosives," Sokka complimented the man, who turned.

"I'm familiar."

"You're a Fire Nation soldier!" Tom wasn't sure how Sokka could tell. The probably thirty something year old was scraggly and unshaven and wearing rags. Was it his complexion? It wasn't that far off from Sokka and Katara, so not that. In any case, there was no need to fear. The man smiled reassuringly.

"_Was_. My name's Chey."

Chey explained that he worked for a living legend. "Jong Jong the Deserter". A firebending master and former general (or admiral or something) who left the military as he saw how radical they had become. He was the first to defect from the military and live. Chey was the second. No mean feat, but apparently you don't get to be a legend for that. Oh, well… It was the first time Aang and the others had heard of a firebender not with the Fire Nation. Well, present company excluded.

"There's a firebender out here who's not with the Fire Lord? This is perfect, he can train me!" Aang beamed.

"I've actually heard of Jong Jong," Tom added. Oh, those lies of omission… "I'd really like to see if I can learn something from him myself."

"Sure," Chey agreed, "I bet he'd be happy to teach another firebender who is resisting the Fire Nation. You guys are all likeminded and stuff."

"No way," Sokka protested, "We're not going to go find some crazy firebender."

"He's not crazy! He's a genius!" Chey defended his mentor.

"Funny how those traits get put together so often," Tom noted casually. That didn't really do anything to alleviate Sokka's concerns, so Tom continued. "I need to do something to close the gap between me and Zuko. He's not going to give me an inch the next time we meet."

"Why are you so hung up on him all of a sudden? We beat him last time, didn't we?"

"The confused shiershu beat him. I hit him with everything I had and he didn't even flinch."

"Sokka, this could be my only chance to meet a firebending master that might actually be willing to teach me," Aang implored. His mind was made up at the very least.

"I couldn't hurt just to talk to him," Katara noted.

"That's what you said about going to the festival! Why doesn't anyone listen to me?!" Tom was about to make another comment at Sokka's expense, but the group was ambushed by a group of strange native-looking people ambushed them.

Actually, as the natives led them to Jong Jong's camp, it occurred to Tom that he didn't know a thing about them. Who were these people? What was there story? It didn't matter, but now that he thought about it, it kind of bugged him. In the meantime, the natives herded the group to a small village. It was somewhere between a camp and a settlement. That made sense. How were the Fire Nation supposed to find the Deserter out here, but there was no need to get _too_ comfortable.

Chey was sent in to see Jong Jong alone at first, but Tom was a bit surprised when one of the natives directed him to Jong Jong's hut. He entered and was immediately under the gaze of the old master. Tom returned it unflinchingly, but there was a kind pressure about him. He was easily more powerful than Tom was.

"Welcome," Jong Jong spoke smoothly. "Would you be so kind as to grace me with your name?"

"Tom Rindi."

"I see." Jong Jong watched Tom for a bit. There was a still feeling, like the world was waiting for something to happen. "You are different. Otherworldly."

"I get that."

"I would like to teach you the ways of firebending. Would you consider becoming my pupil?"

"For a little while. But I need to stay with my friends."

Jong Jong nodded. "Yes. Perhaps you can teach the Avatar once he is ready…"

Tom smiled at the thought. He had no intention of stealing anyone's job. "Actually, about that…" Tom stopped when Aang slipped through the cloth door of Jong Jong's hut.

"What are you doing here, boy? I did not call for you!" Jong Jong snapped. Tom watched as the argument between the hopeful child and bitter adult played out. He'd let Aang be dumb about the fire. Even the way he was now, he could stop a little burst of fire from hitting someone. Eventually, Roku intervened, practically commanding Jong Jong to teach Aang. And Tom could see it clear as day. Being in the room with a fully realized Avatar for the first time, even the ghost of one, made his hair stand on end. "I will teach you…" Jong Jong conceded. His confidence was not helped by Aang's childish reaction to getting his way.

The next day Aang and Tom assumed the stance Jong Jong taught them. Aang stood on a flat, round rock in a calm pool of the river that served as the water source for the camp. "Widen your stance," Jong Jong said in Aang's direction, though it was clearly an instruction for both of them. They widened their stances. "Wider, Avatar." Apparently Tom had the stance down already. "Bend your knees, Avatar." Aang did. Aang peeked over at Tom, he just shrugged in response. "Now concentrate. Good…" Jong Jong started away.

"Now what?" Aang asked. A reasonable question.

"Silence!" Jong Jong demanded. "Talking is not concentrating. Look at your friend," he motioned to Katara who was practicing her waterbending, "Is she talking? Even that oaf knows to consintrate on what he's doing!"

Sokka looked up at that comment, "Hey!"

"But what are we concentrating on?" Aang asked.

"Feel the heat from the sun. It is the greatest source of fire, yet it is in complete balance with nature."

"So when do I get to make some fire?"

"Consintrate!"

By that point Tom had already sunken into the lesson. He closed his eyes and just tried to sense the sun. At first he just felt the sun's rays on his face, but as he sharpened his focus on the all permeating heat, he noticed something. It was like some kind of connection. It was impossible to explain… Like the sun was a part of his body and vice versa. Before he realized it, he could feel a kind of latent power rising within him. Jong Jong had to tap him on the shoulder a few hours later to snap him out of his trance for the next lesson. Apparently, Aang had no such problems.

Next, Jong Jong led the two up a mountain. "Are we coming up here so I don't burn anything with my fire blasts?" Aang asked hopefully.

"No fire yet."

"What…?" Fine by Tom. Sure, Aang wanted to get to the fire part, but Tom could throw flames around just fine. And just that few hours of meditating on the sun somehow made him feel stronger already. Jong Jong's lessons were working, even if Aang didn't notice.

"Power in firebending comes from the breath," Jong Jong began. Tom had actually forgotten about that. "That is why you must master proper breath control.

"You brought us up here to breathe?" Aang asked skeptically.

Jong Jong turned away, surveying the scenery. "Assume your stance," Jong Jong instructed. A pause. "Wider, Avatar."

"You're not even looking-!"

"Wider!" Aang acquiesced. "Now inhale through the nose, and exhale through the mouth. …Without talking." The boys did and Jong Jong turned to leave, "Good."

This time Tom noticed the difference right away. He could feel what he decided was his chi flowing and growing with every breath. He closed his eyes as the manner of breathing became second nature and started to feel that connection with the sun again. There was something different now. The power was almost overwhelming. Such a simple change and yet now he felt like he could take on anyone. Someone tapped him on the shoulder again, snapping him out of his trance. This time it was Aang.

"What?"

"Don't you think we've been breathing long enough?" Aang asked casually.

"I'd like to keep breathing, thank you."

Aang rolled his eyes, "That's not what I mean. I mean don't you think it's about time we got to the _fire_ part of firebending?"

"I'm getting quite a lot out of this, actually," Tom said as he sunk back into his stance.

"Well, I'm not!" Aang complained.

"Well, you're not supposed to be firebending yet. You'd better stick with the lessons on how to control it or you're going to hurt someone."

"Now you sound like Jong Jong." That seemed equal parts compliment and insult to Tom. Aang started down the mountain, "I'm going to talk to Jong Jong."

"Aang, wait," too late. Oh, well. Time to meditate and breathe by the river. Tom followed Aang back down to the camp. Once he got there, he found a quiet spot and continued the exercise. This time no one disturbed him. His ears perked up at the phrase "We're going to work with fire now."

Jong Jong caught a leaf falling from one of the nearby trees and burned a hole in it. He handed the smoldering leaf to Aang, telling him to keep the fire from the edges of the leaf for as long as he could. He caught another leaf and handed it to Tom.

"I'm guessing putting out the fire is cheating…"

"Keep the fire lit, but keep it from spreading," Jong Jong said, ignoring Tom's bad joke. "With that, you can better control the power of fire."

One of the natives burst in from the tree line. "Mater, trouble."

"What's going on?" Aang asked, ready to leap into action.

Jong Jong turned and ran off with the native, "Consintrate on your leaf!"

"This is the worst firebending instruction ever!" Aang complained mostly to the sky. Tom put out the fire on his leaf, knowing that Aang's impatiens was about to get him in trouble. "All he does is leave me alone for hours to concentrate or breath!"

Katara walked over from her waterbending practice to reassure her friend. "I'm sure there's a good reason," she said lightly.

"But I'm ready to do so much more…" Aang started to do the breathing exercise, letting the leaf erupt into an impressive flame. "I did it, I made fire!"

Aang started literally playing with fire, despite the protests of Tom and Katara. Aang was trying to figure out how to juggle the flame like the magician from the day before when he lost control. An impressive wall of flame raced toward Katara. Tom got in the way and batted it out of the sky. Most of the flames dissipated harmlessly, but a little lick of flames coiled around Tom and hit Katara. She yelped in surprised pain, but it would have been much worse if Tom hadn't stepped in.

"Katara!" Aang gasped when he realized what he had done. He leapt over in a smooth bound, "I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to…"

"It's okay Aang. It's not that bad…" she winced. Yes it was. There was a patch of bright, discolored flesh on the palm of her hand. It was the kind of burn that would scar if something wasn't done about it.

Sokka arrived at the sound of his sister's cry. "What happened?!"

"I-i-it was an accident, I…"

Sokka got a good look at Katara's hand. From the look on Aang's face, he knew who to blame. "I told you we shouldn't mess around with this!" he said, pointing an accusatory finger angrily at Aang, "Look at what you did! You burned my sister!"

"S-Sokka," Katara said, trying to hold back pain induced tears, "It's okay. I'll be f-fine…"

"Katara," Tom spoke softly. She looked up and he motioned down a nearby path, "Maybe you should go and run some water over that."

She hissed as the burn pulsed with each of her rapid heartbeats. "Okay." She walked off at a brisk pace.

"I told you this was a bad idea, but you wouldn't listen!" Sokka scolded. Aang could only look at his shoes, shame and regret written all over his face. Sokka noticed Jong Jong arrive out of the corner of his eye, "This is all your fault!"

"I know!" Jong Jong said crossly, "Now pack your things. You must leave immediately."

Sokka stormed off without another word, more than happy to leave. Jong Jong passed Aang with only a disappointed shake of his head as he followed after Katara. Tom put his hand on Aang shoulder, "I tried to warn you."

"I know! I should known you'd know better!" He sounded like he was on the verge of tears. He couldn't even look Tom in the eye.

"You'll find that shortcuts aren't going to be too friendly on this little adventure of yours," Tom said reassuringly. "I heard a really good line in a Teen Titans cartoon once. 'There's an easy way, and a right way'."

"I tried to do it the easy way," Aang lamented, "And Katara got hurt because of it. I don't even want to think about what was supposed to happen…"

"There's a thing about that," Tom said lighter than before. He started down the path Katara and Jong Jong took, knowing Zhao would be waiting, "In the meantime, I've got a party to attend. Wouldn't want Jong Jong's guests getting bored!" He ran off, leaving Aang to his thoughts.

When Tom arrived at the water's edge, he overheard Jong Jong talking to a miraculously healed Katara. "Water brings healing and life. But fire brings only pain and destruction. It forces those of us burdened with its care to walk a razor's edge between humanity and savagery. Eventually… we're torn apart."

"That's not how I see it," Tom interjected, causing Jong Jong and Katara to turn. "When I first figured out I was a firebender, I couldn't get my head around how to spontaneously generate fire. But the more I managed to do it in the heat of the moment, the more I learned what the fire I made was. We don't make the fire, only the heat. The fuel that sets the heat ablaze. A fuel that we summon from within."

"Our chi…" Jong Jong finished.

"To me, fire…" Tom looked down at his hand and snapped his fingers. A candle-sized flame lit over his finger, "…is an expression of my soul."

Jong Jong considered that for a moment, but several fire blasts started landing around the trio. The poorly aimed, weak attacks were easily blocked by Tom and Jong Jong. "Go get your friends and flee!" Katara ran, expecting Tom to be right behind her. He however stayed with Jong Jong. "You go too, Tom Rindi! Go!"

"Not just yet. I want to test out what I've learned."

"That's foolish! You should run!"

"I never said I wasn't a fool…"

"Stubborn boy!" Jong Jong summoned a massive wall of fire that blocked the rest if the river off from the riverboats steaming towards them. The tactic worked for a little while until Zhao casually walked through the burrier.

"Don't worry, men," he said condescendingly, "My old teacher gave up fighting a long time ago. Isn't that right, Master Jong Jong?" With Zhao through the wall, there was no point in keeping it up. It vanished as quickly as it arose.

"So you quit being Jong Jong's student?" Tom asked, surprising Zhao. "Not a very smart move. This guy is a genius."

"You!"

"We didn't get a chance to go a round last time," Tom said, falling into a stance. "What do you say? Queensbury rules?"

Zhao sneered and sunk into a stance of his own, "I'll shut that little smart mouth of yours myself, you traitor!" That's the second guy who's called Tom a traitor. Tom found it odd seeing as he wasn't Fire Nation, but they didn't know that. Annoying. Well, Tom was too busy vanishing like a mirage in the face of Zhao's opening assault. "How…? Where did he go?"

"Somewhere over here, I think." Everyone turned around at Tom's voice. He was sitting on the prow of one of the riverboats.

"How did you…?" Zhao gasped voicing the shock of everyone (including Jong Jong).

"I call it Heat Shimmer," Tom explained proudly, "A boon of being self-taught until now. But enough playing around…" In the blink of an eye, Tom had closed the distance between he and Zhao. Before he could react, Zhao was doubled over from the flaming punch Tom placed in his gut. "You're actually pretty weak, aren't you?"

Zhao recovered, taking a step back. "Why you…!" Zhao tried a flaming kick to the head, but Tom ducked it and swept his off balance foe off his feet. Zhao flew angrily back to his feet and started throwing giant fireballs at Tom. All Tom had to do was put up his hand and any of the fire blasts even close to hitting him bursted harmlessly. For all the fire Zhao was throwing, there wasn't any power behind it. It felt like Zhao was throwing warm pillows at him. Underhand. It was clear that the ease of Tom's defense shocked and shook him. "That's impossible…!"

"Those flames are an expression of your soul," Tom said, staring the cowed Zhao down. "Empty. Now get out of my sight before I have to hurt you."

"Tom! Jong Jong!" Aang had just arrived to help, rushing in from the path to the camp.

Zhao used the distraction to regain his composer. "Men!" he said with his pride outwardly restored, "You take the traitors! The Avatar is mine."

A dozen soldiers and half as many firebenders surrounded Tom and Jong Jong. The two of them looked around and smiled. "These odds seem sadly mismatched," Jong Jong said confidently.

"Yeah," Tom agreed, "There're going to need more guys." One might have said the escape for the Avatar and his friends was easy that day, but really, it was Zhao and his men who had to escape.

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><p>Well, this just about tops everything I've ever posted! I'm glad I worked ahead because this is going in right under the buzzer. So yeah, what I say in just about every AN; criticism plax.


	20. Those Who Radiate

For a bit I'm planning on in the near future (much nearer than I thought), I need as much time as I can get to make it work on it and make it what I need it to be. That said, no one will see this until at least 6/21. I need to keep to my schedule or else there's no point to it. In any event, this chapter too is rather important. So let's get to it;

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><p>Tom continued with Jong Jong's training for the next week after they had left him. The exercise with the leaf didn't seem to do much of anything, unlike the others. At least not until Tom started practicing his fire again. He found that he had more control over the flames that he loosed. He could even bend them midflight like a curveball. For all the obvious applications that that had, his newfound control gave him an idea. Well, not exactly. It reminded him of an idea he had when he saw firebending for the first time. Maybe he could make that idea a reality…<p>

The group was getting close to the North Pole so they had to stop and camp whenever they had land to camp on. Tonight they had the privilege of being regaled by a storyteller. The middle-aged man had many tales to tell, but the most interesting one by far was the tale of the "airwalkers". Aang perked up at the mention of airbenders, but when the storyteller mentioned seeing them only last week, Aang was elated. Someone had seen live airbenders? The Northern Airtemple had somehow escaped the war?! It was the best news Aang had heard since he woke up from the iceberg. Of course, Tom had to tell him not to get his hopes up.

Indeed, once they saw the gliders, Aang could tell that there were no airbenders to be found there. "They're not flying," Aang sighed disappointedly, "They're gliding, you can tell by the way they move. They have no spirit!" As if on cue, one of the gliders buzzed Appa. The kid seemed to be in a wheelchair-like device and his echoing laughter reminded Tom of Aang, hearing it in person.

Aang couldn't take this affront to his flying skills, so he grabbed his glider and took to the skies himself and started a little acrobatic duel to try to prove the real airbender was better. Aang definitely outflew the kid in the wheelchair, but the skywriting picture of Aang's bemused face was definitely a crowd pleaser.

The kid, named Teo, landed at the base of the temple, Aang and Appa close behind. "Hey!" he gasped when he got a good look at Aang, "You're a _real_ airbender! You must be the Avatar! That's amazing! I've heard stories about you!"

"Thanks," Aang smiled bashfully.

"This glider chair is incredible," Sokka complimented when he got a closer look at it.

"If you think that's good, you should see the other stuff my dad invented," Teo told them as he led them inside. Teo explained that his father was the mastermind behind the "renovations" to the temple. There were pipes and the like jutting out of walls unnaturally and smoke billowing out of things. Tom didn't have any affiliation to the Air Temples, but still he felt like it was some unforgivable perversion.

Aang looked around one of the rooms Teo showed off, sharing none of Sokka's enthusiasm for the changes. One statue that seemed particularly defaced caught Aang's attention. When it spewed smoke he could only recoil in shock. "I'm sure there are some parts of the temple that are the same," Katara assured.

Teo heard that and directed them to a structure that had yet to be altered. Aang asked Tom quietly if he should expect something bad when they got there. Tom told him that they were planning to tear it down to build a bath house. Not happy about that thought, Aang rushed ahead, but he was too late. The wrecking ball was already flying and smashed apart a sacred statue. "Don't you kids know enough to stay away from construction sights? We need to make room for the bath house!" a strange man with a monocle, Teo's father, scolded.

"Do you know what you just did?! You just destroyed something sacred! _For a stupid bath house_!" Aang exclaimed, more furious than Tom ever remembered seeing him. He blasted the wrecking ball rig off the mountain with a blast of air, his deft skills allowing him miss the workers but still buffet them to get his point across. "You can't treat this temple this way. I've seen it when the monks were here, I know what it's _supposed_ to look like!"

"But… you're twelve," Teo's father pointed out.

"Dad, he's the Avatar!" Teo explained. "He used to come here a hundred years ago."

"Who said you could be here?" Aang demanded, though Tom wasn't exactly sure if the question was rhetorical or not. Either way, Teo's father answered.

"Doing here…" he started sadly, "A long time ago (though not a hundred years), my people became refugees after a terrible flood. My infant son, Teo, was injured and lost his mother. I had to find a place to rebuild. That's when I stumbled on this place. I couldn't believe my eyes! Pictures of flying people! Then I came across these fan like contraptions. I decided I could build a new life for Teo in the air. Then everyone would be on equal ground. …So to speak. We're just in the process of improving on what's already here. And after all, isn't that what nature does?"

Aang considered that for a moment. He didn't seem any happier, but at least he was no longer angry. "Nature knows when to stop."

"I suppose that's true," Teo's father agreed, "But progress has a way of getting the better of us." It seemed that they had come to an understanding and with much work to do to maintain the former Air Temple, Teo's father had to shuffle off. Sokka immediately identified with the boisterous inventor and accompanied him to see more of the facilities' inner workings.

After they were off, Teo beckoned Aang to come see a part of the Temple he _knew_ was untouched. On the way, they noted some of the little hermit crabs, probably direct descendants of the ones that lived when the monks still lived there. "They're kind of like the keepers of the Temple's origins." Finally they arrived at the place Teo was referring to, a large ornate door. "It's just like the one at the Southern Air Temple."

"Only an airbender can open it," Teo noted. "Inside, it's just as the monks left it. I always wondered what it was like in their…"

"I'm sorry," Aang said sincerely, "But this is the last place that's the same as it was before."

"I understand," Teo said. All of this was of little consequence to Tom. He already knew what was behind that door and it was not the Temple as the monks left it. What he was looking forward to was the flying lessons. It seemed like such a simple thing when you say it. All you have to do is glide. But it was a whole other matter. "The wind will carry you. It supports something inside you, even lighter than air. And that something takes over when you fly."

Katara made the mistake of looking at the drop to the mountains below. "I changed my mind!" she said quickly, "I think I was born without that something!" Tom couldn't blame her for her cold feet.

"That's impossible!" Teo laughed, "Everyone has it!"

"Spirit," Aang answered, "That something is spirit."

"I guess it is…"

After a bit of healthy hesitation, Katara finally made that first big step off the edge. Once the updraft caught her and she started flying her screams turned into laughter. Aang stopped Tom before he could step over the edge. "Hey," he said quietly, "Why don't you try to use your heatbending to fly like me. I bet it would work."

"I hadn't thought of that," Tom said, impressed at Aang's ingenuity. "Still, I'd rather not light one of their gliders on fire and have to explain how it happened."

"Good point," Aang noted. "We'll have to try it out sometime once I get a chance to make another glider."

With nothing else to do than take the plunge, Tom took the first step into oblivion. There was a shear decent for an agonizing few seconds before Tom was gliding. The screaming in the meantime was, as it turns out, completely involuntary. Once he got up in the air, the feeling was unreal. There was something strangely natural about gliding. Who said that humans weren't meant to fly? Tom knew quite a bit about aerodynamics as it was one of the many things he studied in his "free time" back home. It took him a while to mentally map out the air currents that kept the gliders aloft, but once he did, he found many acrobatics almost second hand. Loops and banks, dives and turns. It wasn't all without fault, he stalled and dropped a few dozen feet before catching himself a few times.

"What do you think?" Aang asked Tom and Katara as he pulled up next to them.

"It's surreal!" Tom said, the joy clear in his voice even over the rushing wind. "You're lucky you can do this whenever you want!"

Katara nodded in agreement, "Teo was right about the air! All I had to do was trust it and let it carry me!"

Aang looked down at Teo, who had landed and was letting Tom and Katara enjoy a little more sky. "You know, Teo may not be an airbender, but he really does have the spirit of one!"

Landing was also a bit hairy, but after observing the way Aang and a few of the locals did it, Tom managed.

"I've been thinking…" Aang said to Teo after they had all landed, "If you want to see what's in that room, I'd be happy to show you." Tom knew that what was behind that door would be a disappointment, but he held his tongue. Aang knew about his "precognition" but he wasn't ready to explain it to Katara, much less Teo. On the upside, watching Aang open the special doors to the sanctuary was oddly elegant and beautiful. Inside was less so. "This is a nightmare…" Aang's description was apt. Inside the locked room was not an untouched airbender sanctuary, but a den of bladed metal and red. Inside the room were various weapons in various states of completion all with the Fire Nation insignia on them.

Teo's father arrived, alerted to the opening of the former sanctuary by an alarm system. "You don't understand!" he insisted.

"You're making weapons for the Fire Nation!" Aang accused.

Teo seemed the most betrayed, "Explain all of this! **Now**!"

"It happened about a year after we came here. You were too young to remember this Teo. A group of Fire Nation soldiers found our settlement. Threatened to burn it to the ground. I pleaded with them. They asked what I had to offer. I offered… my services."

"At least tell me you were present enough to give them bad designs," Tom spoke up from corner of the room, looking an intimidating but impractical spiked wheel.

"But of course!" he answered, "But I've had to make the flaws more subtle. Before too long, even my best work may not be enough to save this place…"

"Well, that's fine then," Tom said easily. He picked up a spear and started flipping it about easily. "Now you've got a little extra power in us. Let's be rid of those barbarians once and for all!" With the last word he tossed the spear into the center of a Fire Nation insignia.

"But… we can't…"

"We have to, Dad," Teo insisted.

"Oh, you're right. Let's do it!"

A few hours passed and the war minister that had come to collect the new weapons was turned away. It was easy to feel strong against one unarmed man, but the coming army was a different matter entirely. It was Aang who seized upon the idea of using the gliders to drop bombs and drive the approaching soldiers away. And with the combine tinkering of Sokka and Teo's father, they were able to get their "War Balloon" working. Basically a hot air balloon with some bombs strung up underneath it. The strategy session didn't provide much in the way of a battle plan, so after Sokka was done explaining how the War Balloon worked, Tom stepped up.

"Listen up!" he said in his best commander voice. "Most of our bombs have a wide area of effect, so try to pen the enemy in and force them into cover. This place isn't worth a battle of attrition to them, so they should give up if we can just bog them down. They're all but defenseless against an air attack, but their firebending will compromise the gliders almost immediately. And I don't think I have to tell you what that would mean. Stay in groups of two or four and watch each other's backs. Your first priority is to survive. Anything less is unacceptable. Understood?"

The room erupted into a cheer that all took as a yes. As everyone filed out for the battle to come, Sokka jabbed Tom in the side. "Way to totally overshadow me, Tom!" he griped.

"Next time, Lieutenant," Tom patted Sokka on the shoulder, "Next time." This seemed little comfort.

The citizens were just finishing up their defenses when the Fire Nation soldiers showed themselves on the mountain. Unfortunately, Sokka and the War Balloon were nowhere to be seen. The battle would have to begin without them. The battle started off very well. The soldiers marching up the almost sheer cliff couldn't do anything about the attacking gliders. It was the tanks that pushed the defenders back. The tanks could ride through the small bombs dropped by the gliders largely unhindered. And worse yet, the tanks were manned by firebenders. Aang was the first to drop and attack the tanks from the ground. There wasn't much he could do though. Even flipping them didn't work, the chassis being fitted into gyroscope that flipped the crew upright again. Katara landed Appa and managed to compromise two with her waterbending, but there were dozens more.

Tom buzzed them, trying to attract the attention of as many of the firebenders as he could. One got lucky and clipped the paper wing of the glider he was using. Tom let go of it at low altitude, flipped in the air to bleed some of his momentum and landed in the Robert Downy Jr. Iron Man pose. (Because it's cool.) He landed next to the tank that had shot him down. He dashed up to it and, with a low battle cry, smashed his hand into the side. At first it seemed to do nothing, but the metal quickly began to turn red and warp. Tom pulled his hand away and punched the scar with all he had. His arm went straight through it. He pulled his arm most of the way out, but stopped at the edge. Using both hands, he pealed the tank open like it was made of aluminum. And to his delight, his idea was working! The burrier of heat and high-pressure air around his arms was protecting him from the blast furnace heat. Mostly.

Tom poked his head in the new door he made in the tank and smiled happily at the shocked looks of the crew. "Hi!" he said cheerfully before grabbing the nearest crewmember by the shirt collar and yanking him out of the tank before throwing him a ways away. It must have looked like something out of a horror movie to the rest of the tank crew; they were already scrambling out the top hatch for their lives. For good measure, Tom sent in a blast of fire through his door to add a bit more incentive to abandon the machine. That was enough to stop the Fire Nation advance, but it was clear they weren't going to leave just yet.

Tom collapsed next to the tank after that display. Aang and Katara rushed to his side. "That was amazing!" Aang complimented.

"And that was the only one of those I have in me," Tom said between gasps. "Good rule of thumb; don't test out new techniques for the first time on the battlefield. My Pressure Burrier may need some work. And…" Tom held up his shaking, bright pink palms, "I may or may not have given myself first degree burns…"

Aang helped Tom to Appa where Katara began healing his hands. After his wounds were healed, she looked down at the still approaching army. "Come on, Sokka… We need that War Balloon…!"

On cue, the War Balloon rose from behind the temple. The Fire Nation troops ignored it thanks to the insignia. After all, that was going to be there's originally. The giant slime bombs turned away most of the remaining soldiers, but it still wasn't quite enough. It was Sokka who noticed the natural gas seeping out from a crack in the ground. They had to use their fuel source to ignite it, but it got rid of the Fire Nation. Forget that they were in full retreat, the path was destroyed! They could never come back! Of course, it wasn't lost on Tom that the War Balloon had to be ditched and Sokka and Teo's father had to be rescued. Or that the Fire Nation would get it now. But that didn't matter.

Sometime later, after Tom had recovered from his exhaustion, he found a secluded part of the temple. He stood in the open air, the breeze unable to reach him. He felt the power, within him and without. Nigh invulnerable to all but physical attacks and a burning touch. And this was only the overture to his magnum opus. "Let's see just how far I can take this new power of mine," he said with a smile.

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><p>Yeah, this is a week late. It's ironic that this is the first black mark on my three year plus record since I started this literally a month ahead! I'll make no excuses other than that real life got in the way. But one miss in three years isn't that bad I think. Frankly, I could have done this last Saturday, but I just lost my drive.<p>

In any event, I think it's pretty obvious why this one was kind of a big thing. I'll say I'm happy with the finished product. It's not my best, but it works for what it is. Tom's "heatbending" (term coined by a reviewer by the name of "Insert Unoriginal Title Here") is supposed to be building up to something. I'm trying to have a sense of buildup throughout this story. Useful reviews that point out flaws in this or other aspects of my story would be greatly appreciated. Key word; USEFUL!


	21. That Which Denies

Here I go again. At least this last minute update is a rather easy and pointless one. At least insofar as my own story is concerned. To that end, let's get this under way.

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><p>After leaving the Northern Air Temple, Appa continued farther north. Unfortunately, it wasn't long before they ran out of land to camp on completely. Worse yet, it was getting devilishly cold. Two days of being forced to camp on icebergs and they still couldn't find anything that resembled any kind of Northern Water Tribe. It was clear that Appa was starting to get tired and the entire group was on edge.<p>

Leave aside that they were all sleep deprived, Tom hated the cold as it was. And they were headed to the Arctic Circle! He did his best to keep his temper in check, but he was still irritable. And for all the times Tom had seen the show, getting ambushed by waterbenders among the bergs was just as startling. Appa was flying low enough to get frozen to the water's surface as several boats filled with waterbenders encircled the group. At least they had a guide now.

After Aang mentioned that he was the Avatar come to train with a waterbending master, the waterbenders melted the ice and offered to lead the way. It was a rather short trip thankfully and within two hours, they finally laid eyes on the magnificent wall of the Northern Water Tribe. It was as spectacular as any of the other sights Tom had seen on his crazy journey. The wall of snow and ice glistened in the setting sun and cast dancing shadows over the Water Tribe insignia embedded in the wall. The whole city was a bustling metropolis akin to Omashu. For being made of ice and glorified tents, the city was impressive. And its population reflected that. There were dozens of crisscrossing waterways that reminded Tom of his trip to Venice when he was younger. They and the walkways were alive with people working together in peace. It was if the Water Tribe had been untouched by the war. And why would it be? A one city, resourceless, isolationist nation sitting on the single least strategic location on the planet? Why would the Fire Nation care about the silly little Water Tribe? Well, that was now about to change with the Avatar there. Speaking of Aang, his arrival seemed to warrant a holiday for the Northern Water Tribe. To be fair, they happened to arrive on the birthday of a princess, so there was already a feast planned. Princess Yue, the Northern Tribe Chief's daughter had turned sixteen that day.

And as the Tribe celebrated that, and the arrival of members of their sister tribe, and the arrival of the Avatar, the undisputed master of waterbending in the North; Master Paku, preformed with his students. Tom had not been looking forward to meeting this sexist douchebag in person. But who knew? Tom had been surprised by this crazy adventure before. Maybe he wasn't so bad.

After Tom and Aang finished eating, Aang suggested they meet his and Katara's new teacher. Tom, not having any interest in watching Sokka choke literally and metaphorically while trying to impress Yue, decided for. The Northern Tribe Chief introduced Aang to Paku after he and his students had finished their routine.

"Just because you're the Avatar, don't expect any special treatment," Paku said harshly. Tom pitched the bridge of his nose. Of _course_ Paku was as bad as Tom remembered!

"Uhh, my friend and I can't wait to train with you," Aang returned cheerily, ignoring Paku's harshness. "After we relax a couple of days…"

"If you want to relax, I suggest visiting a tropical island," Paku droned humorlessly, "If not, I'll see you at sunrise." With that he unceremoniously walked away. At least the Chief seemed apologetic about his lack of tact.

Aang turned around to see Tom, clearly in a sour mood. "What's wrong?"

"Oh god, he's just as bad as I thought. I apologize in advance."

The next day, Aang and Katara arrived for their first waterbending lesson. And of course, Paku uttered the words Tom was waiting for; "In our tribe, it is forbidden for women to learn waterbending."

"Why?" Tom called, heading up the stairs himself. The word wasn't a question, so much as a challenge.

"You're that firebender friend of the Avatar, right?" Paku asked rhetorically, "I wouldn't expect you to understand."

"Then enlighten me!" This was usually the point where Katara would be trying to shut Tom up, but for once, they were of the same mind on the matter. "As a matter of fact, why doesn't every waterbender learn fighting _and_ healing? Or are there not that many benders around here as talented as Katara?"

"How dare you! And to answer your question, it's tradition!"

"It's idiocy!"

"I agree!" Katara chimed in, "And there must be other female waterbenders in your tribe! What about them?"

"Here the women learn to use their waterbending to heal," Paku explained. "I'm sure Yugota would be happy to take you as her student. Despite your bad attitude!"

"I don't want to heal, I want to fight!" Katara shot back.

"I can see that. But our tribe has customs. Rules!"

"Well, your rules stink!"

"Yeah!" Aang added his voice to the discontent, "If you don't teach Katara, then…"

"Then what?" Paku challenged.

"Then I'll break you in half." Paku turned a death glare on Tom, but he didn't even notice it. "This isn't about your moronic, sexist, backward culture. This is the fate of the world. Real human lives that you should be weighing against your abstract 'tradition'."

"If she were the Avatar, I'd agree with you. But she's not!" Paku said dismissively, "She's a member of the Water Tribe!"

"She's a member of the _Southern_ Water Tribe, so your argument is invalid. And besides, like I said," Tom sunk into a loose fighting stance, "I'm not giving you a choice in the matter…!"

"I will not be baited into a petty brawl with some barbarian firebender!" Paku scoffed, "Even if he does have the good sense to fight for what he thinks is right."

"You're bald."

"That's it!" Paku summoned a small tidal wave from the ice they were all standing on and sent it rushing at Tom. Paku smiled when the wave had gotten too close to dodge, "Take that, you little smart mou-!" He stopped when the wave flashed to steam where it should have hit Tom.

"Better to be a smart mouth than a dumbass," he said cockily. "And how do you like my Pressure Burrier? It makes me nigh invulnerable to waterbending. Still want to go a round?"

"I'll wipe that smug little grin of your face, you little brat…!" Tom closed with Paku around ice shards that started to melt just by nearing their target. Still, Tom had the good sense to dodge Paku's attacks and not overestimate his Pressure Burrier. Taking that first hit was just for show. In close range Tom found no advantage. Paku, even leaving the waterbending aside, was a skilled martial arts master. The traded blows for a bit, but Paku could do little but dodge against Tom's burrier. The world was lost to the two as they fought there desperately petty battle until Katara's shouts broke through. The stood still just long enough to shift the ice beneath them and separate them.

"I'm not going to jeopardize Aang's training and the world just because you're being petty!" Katara shot at Paku in both an act of defiance and admission of defeat.

"Well, it's good to see you come to your senses," Paku said so smugly it was hard for Tom to hold back from cheapshoting him, "But your friend still needs to learn a little respect."

"Oh, please," Tom returned, "I'm not even close to finished with the sexist pig yet."

"Excuse me?!"

"Yes you are, Tom! Let's go," Katara all but ordered. Tom stayed squared off with Paku for a few seconds. "Tom!" she called again and he finally acquiesced. Tom was disappointed that he couldn't finish knocking some sense into Paku. Bet he took solace in the fact that this wasn't over. And while that may have been Katara's battle, who knew, maybe Tom could tag in for round two?

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><p>It's rather hard doing a piece that's supposed to be focused on another character with the format I've fallen into, but I think this works. I'd like to think that I did a good job of staying true to Katara's character in the end scene there. I thought about having Katara appeal to Tom's logical side, saying in the end that if Tom <em>had<em> won the fight (which was no guarantee anyway) that it might result in Paku getting injured and unable to teach either of them. But this is more natural I think. If you can hear that implication in her tone when you read her lines in your head, then I'm doing it right.


	22. Those Who Conquer

Okay, so I'm starting this on Friday, but only technically. I really hope I have enough time for this. This chapter is really important and I can't afford to take shortcuts. And I will NOT be late with this one of all my stories again!

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><p>It was a bit hard for Tom to practice his firebending in the North Pole. As impressive as the city was, it was a glorified iceberg. One might wonder what would become if it once global warming set in… Still, Tom made due. There were no leaves to be found, but Tom still managed to practice one of the lessons Jong Jong had taught him. After all, it was the one that allowed him to make his Pressure Barrier idea a reality. Instead of a leaf, Tom had a length of pitch soaked twine suspended above his palm. To keep the blast furnace heat of his barrier from cooking him alive, Tom had to keep a wall of cooler air between him and the barrier itself. However, the farther he projected the barrier from his body, the more strength it took to maintain it. The better he could control fire, or more specifically heat, the less energy it would take to keep up the barrier.<p>

Thus, Jong Jong's lesson about not burning things. The small orb of heat in his palm was nothing compared to wrapping his whole body in the scorching heat. That allowed him to concentrate on letting the heat end closer to the highly flammable twine. It took all his concentration to keep the barrier up and that tight, but soon he would master that level on the twine and he could move it up to the full-scale size. Unfortunately, his concentration was broken by the black snow, a harbinger of the Fire Navy. "Party time…"

The drums of war literally sounded and the entire Northern Water Tribe congregated in the palace. All a hundred and fifty of them. It was staggering that any of them though "political complexity" justified arranged marriages when as single Fire Navy ship's crew outnumbered their entire civilization.

The Water Tribe chief spoke to his people, perhaps for the last time to some. He beseeched the Ocean and Moon Spirits for their guidance and asked of volunteers for a dangerous mission. Sokka was the first to step up. Things had been getting rather confusing between him and Yue, who had taken quite a shine to him in spite of being engaged.

The soot had stopped falling as the Fire Nation attack grew ever closer. Everyone fit to fight stood on the main wall of the Tribe, watching a single dot grow bigger on the horizon. Eventually, that dot launched a massive fireball that embedded itself into the insignia inscribed on the wall with a thunderous explosion. The attack had begun.

More fireballs followed. With no one to contest it, it looked like one ship could have taken the entire Northern Water Tribe. And there was no way the waterbenders could get to the ship with such powerful artillery. Seeing what needed to be done, Aang called on Appa to take to the air, Tom behind in the saddle. Showing stunning strength, Aang batted one of the flaming, oil soaked stone projectiles off course and into one of the fjords that bracketed the Northern Water Tribe.

Appa sailed close enough that Aang and Tom could jump off safely. Aang landed with a flourish of wind that knocked all nearby off their feet. It didn't take long for them to recover and start attacking, but they were waylaid by Tom's firebending. Aang set out to destroy the trebuchets that were smashing the water tribe while Tom continued to occupy the ship's crew. As the firebenders fell, several spear and sword wielding warriors surged onto the deck. Tom drew his sword in response, which also wore his Pressure Barrier. Many of the weapons he clashed with were rend in half by heat and impact. Armor fared little better, though those wearing it were spared. Tom wasn't going to cross that line if he didn't have to. Aang had gotten through most of the artillery when a big deckhand with two hammers on long chains pinned Aang to the last of the trebuchet. Tom grabbed the chain to melt it with his barrier and cleaved the weakened metal with his sword. The deckhand released Aang and turned his other hammer on Tom who dodged the strike. Aang used his freedom to blast the deckhand overboard. He was about to set about destroying the last trebuchet when the waterbenders, free to get close after the shelling had cased, lifted the ship out of the water on a pillar of ice.

As much of a victory as that had seemed, when Aang and Tom climbed onto Appa and took off, they saw for the first time how daunting their task was. There were literally hundreds of ships bearing down on the Water Tribe. And the one they had just taken out was the smallest in the fleet.

It continued like that for hours. It wasn't until the sun began to set that the fighting stopped. Tom and Aang returned to the palace on Appa, completely exhausted and demoralized. How on earth were they going to fight those kinds of numbers?

Katara and Yue rushed over to the exhausted trio (Appa was hard at work too!). Yue noticeably took a step back when Tom slid off Appa's back. It was common knowledge around the tribe that he was a firebender, so it wasn't surprising.

"I can't do it…" Aang lamented, resting against one of Appa's massive feet.

"What happened?" Katara asked.

Aang held his head in his hands, desperation in his eyes. "We must have taken out a dozen Fire Navy ships, but there's just too many of them. I can't fight them all!"

"But you have to," Yue implored.

"I'm just one kid…"

Katara turned to her other friend, "Tom?"

"Well," he sighed, "the term 'untenable' comes to mind."

"That wasn't what I was hoping to hear," Yue admitted. Frankly Tom was just surprised she even acknowledged him.

"It's not what I wanted to tell you, but there're being smart about it. They know the massive advantage you have in this kind of fight so they went for total overkill…" Tom's expression grew stormy and he bit his nail, "The Northern Tribe is too heavily guarded for what it's worth to them, but damn it, we made you a target by coming here."

"Do you think Zhao would follow us if we leave?" Katara asked hopefully.

"I considered it, but they spent too much getting that fleet here. And besides, the death of an entire civilization is worth more to an egotist like Zhao than even the Avatar…"

"Still, we wouldn't ask that of you," Yue said. She paused and hesitantly placed a hand on Tom's shoulder. "Any of you. You're the first firebender I've met, and for whatever it's worth, I'm glad you're on our side."

Tom smiled back at her, "I appreciate it."

"I admit I was a little bit afraid of you at first, but I see that was foolish now. Please forgive me."

Tom just shrugged, "I get it," he said easily, "No biggie." He paused and stared out at the moored fleet. "Still, there's got to be a way. We're better than they are."

"You're right Tom," Aang said, getting back much of his chipper attitude. "We'll find a way to win. I promise!"

The last rays of twilight faded into a silver night. The moon was almost full. Tom was trying to figure out a way to get the Fire Navy ships to attack in waves when Yue mentioned the spirits. "Our strength comes from the spirit of the moon. Our life comes from the spirit of the ocean. They work together to keep balance."

That's when Aang seized on an idea, "The spirits! Maybe I can find them and get their help." Tom was hoping to come up with a plan that didn't have Aang get dragged unconscious across an ice desert in the middle of a blizzard, but his time just ran out.

After a bit of an explanation, Yue decided she had something that might help Aang get to the Spirit World. She led Aang, Tom, and Katara to a small door behind the palace. "This is the most spiritual place in the entire North Pole," she told them as she opened the door.

Inside was warm. It was mostly a crystal clear spring, but at the end of the canyon-like area was a small island of grass and shrubs with a smaller pool in the middle of it. Behind was a roaring waterfall. It was a truly breathtaking sight to behold.

"I never thought I'd miss grass this much!" Aang laughed as he rolled around the little island.

"It's so warm here," Katara noted as she removed her jacket, "How is that possible?" Tom didn't care. He was just happy not to be freezing to death finally.

"It's the center of all spiritual energy in our land," Yue explained.

"Bet it saves on the gas bill," Tom noted, his joke being ignored. Momo's antics, trying to catch one of the two black and white koi fish in the pool, did not.

Aang made his way to the edge of the pool and sat down, "You're right, Yue. I can feel… something. It's so tranquil." He began meditating, hoping he'd find a way to cross over in such a serene place.

After a few minutes of waiting, Yue spoke up. "Why is he sitting like that?"

"He's meditating," Katara answered, "Trying to cross over into the Spirit World. It takes all his concentration."

"Is there any way we can help?"

"How 'bout some quiet!" Aang snapped. It turned out to be just what he needed though. He happened to look into the pool with the koi fish and became mesmerized. Suddenly he fell silent and his eyes and tattoos glowed white.

"Is he okay?" Yue gasped.

"He did it," Tom said, "He's in the Spirit World now."

"He'll be fine as long as we don't move his body," Katara explained, "That's his way back to the physical world."

"Maybe we should get some help?"

"No, he's my friend. I'm perfectly capable of protecting him."

"Well," Zuko's voice mocked, "aren't you a big girl now?"

Tom looked over at Zuko, approaching from a nearby ridge. He was wearing snow gear instead of his usual armor and his face was covered in cuts and bruises. "Zuko. You look like you went through a meat grinder."

"You know, I was almost hoping I'd find you here," Zuko said as he slipped into a fighting stance.

Tom drew his sword and tossed it by the wayside. He chuckled as he fell into a stance of his own, "What are you smiling about?"

"I don't know… Anticipation?"

Zuko threw the first punch. The attack sent a flame toward Tom. He leaned out of the way and retuned the insult in kind, starting forward. Zuko moved in as well. By the time they had both thrown their second fireball, they were in arm's reach. Tom excelled here. After all, none of the martial arts he had learned before he came here used magical fire. Flames burst around the two fighters as the blocked each other's attacks. The fight was so close it looked choreographed. It was mesmerizing enough that it took Yue a few extra seconds to tare herself away to go get help. Once Katara broke herself out of her trance, she realized she couldn't intervene without risk of hitting Tom.

They circled each other as they attacked, trying to break the other's footing. The island was just big enough for their close quarters battle. Zuko threw a quick barrage of punches, only narrowly missing their mark. Tom had to back off a step and that gave Zuko room to unleash a powerful kick. Tom ducked it, but Zuko used it to move past him toward the comatose Aang. Tom spun and delivered a kick of his own to the side of Zuko's head. It sent Zuko flying to the edge of the pool, landing hard.

"Don't you dare ignore me, Zuko," Tom warned, "I'm not just an obstacle here, I'm an impenetrable wall."

"Then I'll just have to knock you down…" Zuko got up, summoning his fire daggers. It was nigh impossible to dodge all the strikes. If not for his Pressure Barrier, Tom might have been covered in burns by now. Zuko tried to bring both daggers down on Tom's neck, but he blocked the attack by putting up his arms. Zuko noticed the barrier right away, but now he was getting it full force. "I see you came up with a new trick."

"Amazing what whitewashing Mr. Miyagi's fence does for the biceps."

"Too bad it won't be enough!" Zuko leaned back and headbutt Tom. He stumbled back, dazed. Zuko tried to return the kick he received, but even dazed, Tom managed to duck it. Zuko threw a powerful punch meant to end the fight, but Tom caught it. Now he had him. Or that was what Tom thought. He counterattack was halted when Zuko's other fist was buried in Tom's gut. He stumbled back and didn't see the straight kick coming in time. Tom went flying, landing on the bridge to the island. He rolled over and failed to get up. He was dizzy and his vision was blurred. "Time to finish tearing down the wall."

Was there really still this much of a difference between us, Tom thought. No. It wasn't about the firebending, or the fighting, or anything else. Tom wasn't taking the fight seriously. After all he said to get Zuko to stop holding back, he wasn't doing the same. And not just the fight. He wasn't taking the training seriously. There he was doing little experiments and fooling around when Zuko was getting stronger and faster. Of course Tom lost. He just wasn't good enough. There had only been one thing Tom ever took seriously in his life. Well, from that moment forward, there was another thing on the list.

"Get away from him!" he heard Katara say. He heard a slosh of water and a blast of fire. A second later, Zuko landed a bit away from him. Tom got up and tried to shake the stars out of his eyes. He was recovering, but not in any shape to start fighting again.

Now Katara stood in Zuko's way and it was clear that he was underestimating her. After several failed attempts to get past her she was able to trap him in a thick cocoon of ice. "You little peasant. You found a master, haven't you?" Zuko blasted his way out of the prison with ease. The sun was moments from rising and Zuko was getting stronger by the second. "But I didn't come this far to lose to you."

Zuko's attacks came faster and it was all Katara could do to keep up with him. Fortunately for her, he was only trying to get past her; she was between him and Aang. Zuko saw an opportunity and dashed past her, but taking his eyes off his opponent was a mistake. Katara blasted him with a small tidal wave and froze him to the canyon wall. He looked unconscious.

Katara rushed over to Tom, who still hadn't fully recovered from Zuko's attack. "Are you alright, Tom? You're bleeding." He hadn't noticed, but there was a cut under his eye on his cheekbone from where Zuko kicked him.

"I'm fine," Tom assured, "But when the sun-" Too late. Zuko was already off the wall and launching another fireball at the two. Tom pushed Katara out of the way and blocked the hit, but the impact was still powerful enough to knock him off his feet. He landed in the cool waters around the island. When he came up he saw Katara fall and Zuko aiming a fist at Aang. "A human shield? Really?"

"You don't understand," Zuko said with a mix of conviction and desperation, "I have to do this!"

"You're better than this."

"Don't follow me." With that Zuko ran off, slinging the still unconscious and glowing Aang over his shoulder. He made stunning time up a path hidden by the waterfall that led out of the Spirit Oasis canyon and away from the city.

Tom climbed out of the water and checked on Katara. He breathed a sigh of relief when he found her undamaged. Tom grabbed his sword and ran after Zuko. "Oh, no! No one's dying today because I was too damn lazy to care and you're headed to your moral low point. Not today!"

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><p>Finished before the sun goes down! Well okay, I stayed up stupid late to get it done, but still. And hot damn, did I get what I wanted out of this! I didn't cut a single corner and I got every beat and character scene I wanted! I'm really proud that I didn't cop out and write around scenes or split this up.<p>

So, yeah. Tell me what I can do to improve this. I don't know why I keep having to say this, but **PLEASE CRITEQUE ME, I FIND IT EXTREMELY DISRESPECTFUL WHEN PEOPLE GIVE ME REVIEWS THAT DON'T EVEN PROVE THEY READ THE CHAPTER. I DO NOT HAVE A FRAGILE EGO. IF YOU SEE SOMETHING WRONG WITH THE STORY, PLEASE POINT IT OUT. OTHERWISE, WITH RESPECT, PLEASE DON'T WAIST MY TIME WITH SPAM REVIEWS THAT DON'T TELL ME ANYTHING. IS THIS CLEAR ENOUGH FOR YOU? DO YOU UNDERSTAND **_**NOW**_**?**


	23. Those Who Defend

Why the bleepity-bleep do I do this to myself?! In any event, this shall wrap up the last of the Northern Water Tribe arc, though not act one of Dragon Knight (my pacing is a little different since it's more about Tom's character arc than anything else). Thankfully, some of you actually listened to me when I asked for actual reviews. Some didn't, but I'll focus on the positive for once. Just one more thing to take note of, I try to respond to every review I get, but I can't respond to anons. I don't mind getting anonymous reviews at all as long as they're useful, but know that any questions you ask will go unanswered unless you set up an account and use that.

Now on with the show!

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><p>Tom rushed after Zuko's quickly fading trail. He had given him quite a healthy lead, lest the banished prince do anything rash. The advantage to the harsh terrain and the driving blizzard was to the pursuer, however and Tom was making ground. His Pressure Barrier was also giving him something of an advantage, but he was already taxing his endurance and had to use it sparingly to endure the cutting gusts.<p>

Finally, he saw shapes on the horizon. Zuko hadn't made it very far yet. Just when Tom was hoping things were going in his favor, he saw a shape move in the snow. He thought his eyes were tricking him until the shape started stalking toward the unaware Zuko. "That's not supposed to happen!" Tom complained as he rushed after Zuko to warn him.

Zuko could barely hear Tom's shouts over the blizzard before he was in arm's reach. Just in time, Tom shoved Zuko and Aang out of the way as some furry lion-looking thing missed its pounce. The pure white beast was scarcely visible in the snowy veil. "The hell is that thing?!" Tom whined as he got in between it and the still comatose Aang.

"It's a Polar Lion!" Zuko answered.

"Of course it is! Argh!"

The beast tried to circle around the firebenders to the presumably easy prey. Zuko and Tom stayed between it and Aang. Neither of them could afford to let the Avatar be harmed. With a roar, the Polar Lion leaped at the firebenders. It was repelled with twin flaming kicks. When the lion landed, clearly not ready to back off, Tom rushed it with his sword. There was a loud clang of bone (well, technically keratin, but still) met steel. The beast lunged forward to bite the attacker, but it bit down only on the blade.

"Just kill it, will you?" Zuko insisted, moving up to help.

Tom tried to wrestle the blade of his sword out of the powerful lion's teeth. "Bad kitty!" he scolded, "Bad kitty! Down!" Zuko rushed in and kicked the beast in the side and threw it off its side. It almost took Tom's sword with it, but he was able to keep his grip. The creature started growling and circling for a second again, but it halted in its tracks and looked around. Without so much as a snarl, the Polar Lion turned and ran into the white vale of snow. "This does not inspire confidence…" Tom mumbled before running to Aang, picking him up and running in any direction that took him away from the direction of the Polar Lion.

"Where are you going?" Zuko demanded as he ran after them.

"Away from whatever Simba back there was running from!" Soon, the ground near where they had been standing started to crumble in on itself. The ice sheet they had been tracking across was falling into an empty cave below. Even with the head start they had, the crumbling, rolling maw of the cave in was nipping at their heels. With one last leap that they hoped would be far enough – it had to be – they landed at the edge of a new valley on the windswept fjord. The firebenders caught their breath after the long run.

"There," Zuko pointed at the small entrance to a rock cave, "shelter." The two carried Aang over to the entrance, finding the cave itself would fit all three of them comfortably until the storm passed. It dawned on Tom that the polar continent should have been on the South Pole, but it's not like the geography of this earth was the same as it was on his earth.

"Well, this is a fine mess you've gotten us into!" Tom complained in Zuko's direction as he took off his hood.

"This wouldn't have happened if you had just let me go!" he shot back.

"You'd have been cat food had I just let you go!"

They both slipped into fighting stances. As much as both of them were mentally ready to go another round, the chase through the ice exhausted them both to say nothing for the weather. Giving in to the weariness, they both slumped against an opposite cave wall. "Oh, forget it. Even if I could get rid of you, I couldn't get away with your friend because of this blizzard. There's always something. Not that you would understand. You're worse than my sister. At least she has to try. You've been firebending for what, a month? Two? And you're already almost as good as me."

"Hey, you won our three fights," Tom countered, "I don't see what you have to complain about. At least as far as that goes, anyway."

"I had to struggle and train every single day to get where I am! You just start throwing fire one day and suddenly you're a master!"

"I trained it a bunch of different martial arts styles before I found out I was a firebender," Tom shrugged casually, "I just added the fire to what I already knew."

"Well, what about that heat shield of yours? Where does that come from?"

"My Pressure Barrier?" Tom questioned as he summoned it around his hand. "Well, where I come from there are no benders, only science. So I know stuff about heat and fire that even most firebenders don't know."

Zuko paused considering the firebender across from him. He had just assumed that he was a Fire Nation traitor, but now he had no idea what to think. "Who are you?" he asked.

Tom chuckled darkly, "Not much but a Greek Chores, so far. But I intend to end this idiotic war with as few bodies as possible. Maybe right a few wrongs along the way."

Zuko gave the thought a dismissive wave, "You sound like some kind of misguided knight. The war is the Fire Nation's way of spreading it's greatness, it's not something that needs to be stopped."

"You know, you're the second person to compare me with a knight," Tom smiled. It faded when he continued, "Greatness shouldn't have to be spread by the point of a sword. Let's call this war what it is; world conquest."

"Every child is taught differently in the Fire Nation, you don't know what you're talking about!"

"Of course they don't say the real reason for the war!" Tom returned, "Why would the Fire Nation admit to its own kids that it's the bad guy?" The argument might have continued, but a bright flash blasted into the cave and Aang stirred. With a start he sat up and looked around at his surroundings, very confused. "Hey, buddy," Tom offered Aang a hand as he himself rose. "How was your vacation?"

Aang ignored the odd setting and got down to business, "Someone is going to try to kill the Moon Spirit! We have to get back to the Spirit Oasis!"

"You're not going anywhere, Avatar!" Zuko warned, ready to throw a fireball at the pair.

"Not really an advantageous strategic position, Zuko," Tom noted, "You sure you want to start something?"

"Two on one isn't very knightly…"

"Yeah, you lost all credit for fighting fair when you used Aang as a meat shield."

"Jeez, how much did I miss?" Zuko, being as humorless as one would expect, launched a large fireball at the two. They both vanished like a mirage and Zuko followed their only possible path out the mouth of the cave. "You have got to teach me that trick!" Aang smiled as they made their way out of the cave. Zuko was right on their heels and tossing fireballs at them from an impressive distance. Tom blocked the first few, but long ranged firebending not being his specialty, Aang had to block several attacks as well. And even with Aang's gusts feeding Tom's own fireballs, their counterattack was fended off deftly. The fighting abruptly stopped when a huge shadow passed over the three. Aang was the first to look up and see the source, "Appa!"

The sky bison landed and Katara hopped off. "Here for a rematch, peasant? I don't have time for you right now." He tossed a much less impressive fireball at her.

"Trust me, Zuko," Katara said, easily blocking the fireball with a little snow, "It's not going to be much of a match." Without time to react, Zuko found himself half frozen to the top of a tall ice tower. Just as quickly he was slammed into the ground. Katara was right, it wasn't much of a match.

"We need to get to the Oasis," Aang said, hopping up to Appa's head, "The spirits are in trouble!" While he and Katara hopped onto Appa, Tom picked up Zuko and started carrying him.

"Tom, what do you think you're doing?" Sokka asked as the two firebenders settled into Appa's saddle.

"We have a score to settle," Tom said.

"What happens if he wakes up and attacks us?" Yue asked reasonably.

Tom pulled off some rope slung over the unconscious Zuko's shoulder and handed it to Sokka, "Use this."

Sokka inspected it for a moment before he got down to using it to bind Zuko, "This is some quality rope…"

"Tom's right," Aang added before a flick of the rains bid Appa to take off, "We couldn't just leave him to die."

Suddenly, on the way back to the Oasis, the moon went blood red and Yue and Aang clutched their heads in pain. "Are you alright?" Sokka asked.

"I feel faint…"

"I feel it too," Aang agreed, "The Moon Spirit is in trouble."

"I owe the Moon Spirit my life," Yue said as she recovered from the feeling of spiritual ill. She explained how she was born very sick and weak. She wasn't supposed to make it through the night. But her father pleaded with the spirits to save her. When he placed her in the pool at the Spirit Oasis, her black hair turned its now striking white and she cried like any other healthy baby. That was just one more reason they had to save the moon.

The group arrived as Zhao was gloating over his victory over a helpless Koi fish. Then again, Tom couldn't help but think "Moonslayer" was a pretty neat title. The effect was kind of ruined when Momo attacked him, yanking on his sideburns before flying over to Aang. The Fire Nation troops prepared for battle, as did Aang and the others, but Zhao spoke up. "Don't bother," he warned as he threatened the Moon Spirit (trapped in a small bag) with his fist. Aang and the others lowered their weapons, but Zhao still held the fish hostage. "It's my destiny to destroy the moon… And the Water Tribe!"

"Destroying the moon won't just hurt the Water Tribe," Aang warned, "Without the moon, everything would fall out of balance. You have no idea what kind of chaos that would unleash upon the world."

"Oh, please," Zhao scoffed, "You're vague threats of mystical unbalance mean nothing to me."

"How about more specific threats, then?" Tom cut in. "Balance is rather literal where the moon is concerned. The tilt on the planet's axis that causes the seasons would go out of control without the moon's gravity to keep it stable. The earth would fall on its side, one hemisphere cooked to noting by never-ending sun and the other frozen in an eternal night. There would be no one to tell the story of destroying the world because everyone would be dead!"

"Sounds like wild fantasy to me."

"They're right Zhao!" Iroh's voice cut in as he arrived on the island.

"General Iroh," Zhao greeted dully, "Why am I not surprised to learn of your treachery?"

"I'm not traitor, Zhao," Iroh assured, "The Fire Nation needs the moon too. We all depend on the balance." Zhao didn't seem convinced. Iroh fell into a threatening stance, "Whatever you do to that spirit," he growled, "I'll unleash on you tenfold! _Let it go now_!"

Tom could see from the look on his face that Zhao's mind hadn't been changed. Even as Zhao was putting the fish back in the pond, Tom was dashing forward. He intercepted most of the strike, though like before, some of the flames spilled around and into the shallow pool. The firebenders guarding Zhao attacked, but Tom was able to deflect their attacks. Iroh joined him and the four elite firebenders were out cold in seconds. Zhao was conspicuously missing, however.

Everyone looked to the Moon Spirit. Tom's intervention spared it an instant death, but it was still mortally wounded. And the moon above was quickly fading from its bright, full face to an ever waning crescent. The Moon Spirit wasn't going to make it. "There's no hope now," Yue lamented tearfully, "It's over."

Just as the group was about to give up, Aang smoothly slipped into the Avatar State. "No," the voice of every past Avatar spoke through him, "It's not over." Aang stepped into the shin-high waters with the two koi swimming around his feet and he disappeared into the water, the Ocean Spirit glowing the same as Aang's tattoos. The water glowed bright blue and a great creature rose up. Aang looked like a god. He was a god. He _was_ the ocean.

As Aang, empowered by the Spirit of the Ocean itself, set out to turn away the Fire Nation invaders, Tom started running toward the door to the Spirit Oasis. "Fix the fish!" he called back as he neared the door, "I won't let Zhao get away with this!"

By the time Tom caught up with Zhao, he and Zuko were already fighting. Tom intervened. Two of Zhao couldn't have taken on Zuko, the only reason that he wasn't beaten to a charred pulp instantly was because Tom and Zuko weren't exactly on the same side either. The three traded blows for some time, none of them could have guessed how long exactly. Tom did his best to focus on Zhao. Before too long, so did Zuko. The two of them working together overwhelmed Zhao in seconds. They made an excellent team. A volley of blows from them in combination sent Zhao flying several feet onto a small bridge near the water. Tom and Zuko landed on either side of him, ready to knock him back down if he decided to get back up. He was considering it when he looked past them at the sky; the moon had been restored. "It can't be!"

Tom looked up at the bright, full moon. "Yue?"

Soon, the wrath of the ocean arrived to drag Zhao to his fate. Tom and Zuko rolled out of the way and the glowing fist of water lifted Zhao over one of the canals. Both Tom and Zuko lunged forward, hands extended to save the murderous admiral, but Tom knew it was useless. Zhao was too proud to accept their offer.

Zuko looked over at Tom, "Are we going to finish it?"

"Someone will get in our way," Tom returned. He paused. "We have a score to settle. When you lose everything, it's hard to find a reason to try anymore. The world and all its suffering just becomes a bad joke. Unless you find a reason to stand up again." Zuko nodded, he understood the feeling. He started on his escape while the Water Tribe was still in chaos. "I won't let you win next time!" Tom called as Zuko slipped into the ruins of the Water Tribe.

The Fire Nation was gone the next morning. Tom looked out on the city. It was remarkable all the progress made with their bending restored. He sensed someone approaching and turned. Sokka was helping Yue to the same balcony Tom was on. She could hardly stand on her own and her hair had turned black, save for a streak of white still in it.

"Thank you, Tom," she said breathlessly, "The shred of life left in the Moon Spirit that you defended allowed it to spare me some of mine."

"I just wish I could have done more. Will you ever be healthy again?"

"With time," Yue nodded. "I can't travel with you just yet, but we will meet again."

Tom nodded, "I'll give you to some privacy." He left, heading downstairs to Appa. _That_ was something. _That_ was worth being here for. He was going to return home. For all he had lost, there were still people there for him. But in the meantime, he was going to make a difference here. Even if he had to do it one life at a time!

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><p>I almost never take requests or suggestions since I do a lot of planning ahead, but a reviewer gave me an idea too good to pass up. I pretty much got everything out of this chapter that I wanted. Might get more room to breathe when I get back around to it since my deadline is a few hours away, but overall I like it. [Insert futile cry for legitimate critiques here.]<p> 


	24. Those Who Attack

This is a hard and short one like the one about the Water Tribe's sexism, so yeah. Last minute. This chapter is really inconsequential for my story, but the next one should be good. Let's try to get to that.

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><p>To allow Appa and his passengers to rest after the grueling ordeal they experienced at the North Pole, the Water Tribe members heading south to rebuild their sister tribe were nice enough to give the heroes a lift. Tom, unable to sleep that night, was resting against the railing of the ship when Aang appeared on deck.<p>

"Nightmare about the Avatar State?" Tom asked with confidence.

Aang sighed, "That is so weird sometimes…"

A second later, Katara joined them, "Is something wrong?"

"No, just a nightmare," Aang admitted. "I was in the Avatar State. But I was outside my body watching myself. It was scary. _I_ was scary."

Katara placed a comforting hand on his shoulder. "I guess it's a good thing you're strong enough to keep it from happening all the time. Could you imagine if Sokka had that power?" The three of them laughed quietly at the thought of Sokka flying into the Avatar State every time the group ran out of food.

"Thanks," Aang smiled sincerely. "Both of you."

The next morning it was time for the Avatar and the Water Tribe to part ways. Before Appa took off, Master Paku arrived with a bag on deck. From it he retrieved a small, cone-shaped vile, blue in color and covered in Water Tribe symbols. He handed the item to Katara. "This amulet contains water from the Spirit Oasis," he told her, "It has unique properties. Don't lose it." After the offhand comment he smiled and master and student shared a parting hug.

"Thank you Master Paku," she said gratefully before boarding Appa.

"Aang," he said as he pulled a box out of the bag and handed it to the Avatar, "These scrolls will help you master waterbending." Aang slid the lid open to see it filled with waterbending scrolls, "But remember, they are no substitute for a real master…" Both he and Aang smiled up at Katara. Next in line was Sokka. "Take care, son." Sokka seemed disappointed to not get a parting gift. "And Tom," Paku extended his hand and the firebender accepted the handshake. Though they were both trying to crush the other's hand with ever firmer grips. "It's been a _pleasure_," he said with a suppressed edge, "You're a credit to you bending discipline…"

"Likewise," Tom returned, "You're a credit to your generation..."

With that out of the way, Paku's lighter mood returned. "Fly straight to the Earth Kingdom base to the east of here. General Fong will provide you with an escort to Omashu. There you will be safe to begin your earthbending training with King Bumi." And with that, they were off.

It took almost the whole day to get to the Earth Kingdom base. Finally it was spotted over the crest of a mountain. Appa landed and the group gratefully stretched out after such a long day of flying. General Fong, a tall man with a long, well-groomed beard, arrived to greet them. "Welcome, Avatar Aang! I am General Fong. And welcome to all of you great heroes! Appa, Momo, Brave Sokka, Mighty Katara, Noble Tom!" The introduction was punctuated by a flurry of fireworks and a crowd of respectfully bowing Earth Kingdom warriors and earthbenders.

"Not bad, not bad…" Sokka smiled, enjoying the fireworks.

"Avatar Aang," the general said after they had made their way inside to talk, "We were all amazed at the stories of how you single-handedly whipped out an entire Fire Navy fleet at the North Pole." The general stroked his beard as he considered what he had heard, "I can't imagine what it feels like to wield such devastating power. It's an awesome responsibility."

"I try not to think about it," Aang shrugged simply.

"Avatar, you're ready to face the Fire Lord now," the general said plainly.

"What?! No I'm no!"

"Aang still needs to master all four elements," Katara explained.

"Why?" General Fong asked, "With the kind of power he possesses, power enough to destroy hundreds of battleships in a matter of minutes, he could defeat the Fire Lord now!"

"But sir, the thing is," Sokka cut in, "Aang can only do those things when he's in the Avatar State."

"I'm well aware of the Avatar State," the general assured, "Your eyes and tattoos glow, and you're able to summon unbelievable power. Without you we'd be slaughtered before we even reached their shore. But with you leading the way – as the ultimate weapon – we could cut a swath right to the heart of the Fire Nation!"

"Aang isn't a weapon, General Fong," Tom spoke up for the first time.

The general sighed, "You're right. I'm sorry. I got carried away. But still, with the Avatar State, Aang could end the war in just a few days. Isn't that what we all want?"

"Aang will learn to get control of the Avatar State over the course of his journey like every Avatar before him," Tom emphasized.

"Why can't that be now?" the general asked, "He's gone into the Avatar State before."

"Because he's not ready for that yet," Tom returned, "The last time he tried to cut corners it didn't go well."

"Alright, it's decided then. I'll help you prepare yourself for the Avatar State, and then you'll face your destiny." Tom groaned, General Fong didn't hear a word he said.

"No, nothing's decided," Katara said strongly. "Aang's pursuing his destiny _his_ way."

"Well, while you take your time learning the elements, the war goes on. May I show you something?" The general gestured over to a window. The group looked through it to the courtyard of the fort. One particular building seemed to be overflowing with the wounded and dying. "That's the infirmary. And those soldiers are the lucky ones. They came back." The grim sight clearly had an effect on Aang. "Every day the Fire Nation takes lives. You could end it now! Think about it." With that the general left, having his own matters to attend to.

Aang and the others were escorted to one of the nicer rooms on the base. No matter what Aang decided, they couldn't leave tonight. There was a balcony that overlooked the courtyard. Aang looked out over the soldiers, just waiting for the next battle. The general's words were getting to him. Just as he was about to leave to talk with the general, Tom stepped out onto the balcony with him.

"It's a bad idea to use the Avatar State like the general wants, huh?" Aang asked.

Tom nodded, "Fong means well. And you'll get control of it eventually. But that's a long way off. We really should just leave in the morning."

"I know you're right," Aang sighed, "But I still wish there was a way to just end it now. I don't suppose you could teach me how to use the Avatar State the right way?"

"It's magic, the writers didn't have to explain it. But for right now, you can only go into the Avatar State in a life or death situation."

"You're absolutely right," General Fong said as he appeared on the balcony with them. The two turned to the staircase he was approaching from, "If we could put you in a situation where you _had_ to go into the Avatar State… I'd like to avoid that if we can, but there's a nearby harbor that's being used by the Fire Navy. It's a rather large force, they may be enough to trigger the Avatar State."

Tom turned to the general, "Absolutely not! I'm not going to stand by and let you volunteer Aang for a suicide mission."

"No, of course not. I wouldn't force Aang, but it may be the quickest way to the desired result."

"The thing is," Aang started, though the doubt in his tone was obvious, "I don't think it's a good idea to try to force the Avatar State. I think that we should head for Omashu tomorrow."

"Are you sure about that?" the general asked, "The wounded soldiers were attacked by the garrison at that port."

Tom stepped between Aang and the general. "I know you mean well. But I know what you're trying to do. If you really need that base gone, I'll do it."

At first the general was dubious about the idea, but he slowly began to warm to the idea. "A firebender wouldn't stand out too much on a Fire Navy ship…" he thought out loud. "Alright, we know that at least a few of the ships in the harbor are transporting blasting jelly. If you can create a big enough distraction on one of the ships, my troops might just be able to take the port. While you do that, we can try a few harmless methods to call out the Avatar State. Once you return, we'll see where we stand."

That didn't exactly forbid Fong from attacking Aang after Tom got back, but he knew Aang would go after the port on his own if left to his own devices after seeing the base infirmary. "It couldn't hurt, right?" Aang asked. It wasn't a rhetorical question even if it sounded like one, he was really asking.

"Alright… I guess there's no harm in that."

"Excellent! I'll see you tomorrow." With that the general departed.

It took all morning to get from the Earth Kingdom base to the Fire Navy port. Tom actually managed to keep himself awake the whole way there. There were some cliffs overlooking the port that would make for a perfect place to launch the attack. There were several in the harbor, mostly Fire Navy transport ships. As much as Tom blending in with his firebending seemed like a good idea to the soldiers, Tom decided to sneak in. He even had a rather novel plan.

"What's our signal to attack, sir?" the commander of the Earth Kingdom forces asked.

Tom smiled. "Trust me, you'll know it when you see it."

Tom slipped into the water a ways away from the dock. He had spotted a transport ship that was empty of all its crew. The crew had just finished loading the vessel with blasting jelly and were on shore leave. Tom swum under the hull of the ship and started melting his way through the bottom. It took him almost all the breath he had, but eventually he burst into the hold of the ship with a rush of seawater. Moving to a higher deck to find dry explosives (though in hindsight, does "blasting jelly really need to be dry?). He found a room with sufficient explosives and some fuses. It was a simple matter of putting the two together and lighting the wick.

With an explosion imminent, Tom rushed off toward the dock. He really didn't want to be in the water with who knows how many tons of twisted steel sinking next to him. And besides, his allies were coming from inland. Unfortunately, he was stopped at the bottom of the gangplank by a handful of firebenders returning to their ship.

"Crap. I don't suppose me being a firebender means anything?" Of course it didn't. The firebender in the lead threw a flaming punch at the intruder. Tom ducked it and swept the attacker's feet out from under him. And open hand palm strike to the falling firebenders chest sent him flying back and even warped the metal breastplate. Tom moved to deflect the attacks, but just then, the ship he had sabotaged exploded, throwing everyone in the area to the ground. The fire thrown about even set off more explosions in a chain reaction that didn't leave a single ship undamaged. At the same time, the Earth Kingdom troops flooded into the chaotic port. There wasn't even a battle, the Fire Navy just ran. "Yeah!" Tom yelled after the fleeing Fire Nation, "Remember the Maine, bitch! Ow…" He stumbled a bit as the Earth Kingdom troops began to gather around him and celebrate victory. Tom felt something trickling down the bridge of his nose. When he whipped some away with his hand, he saw that his fingers were covered red. "Oh, fun."

Tom was right about General Fong's careful wording. He ultimately did try to attack Aang to force him into the Avatar State. But at least Aang had Roku to teach him about it. And with no Fire Navy port breathing down their neck, the Earth Kingdom soldiers would have plenty of time to clean up General Fong's mess!

* * *

><p>This actually turned out much better than I thought it would! I could have split it up at one point, but I'm glad I didn't. Tom's little extra section was (<em>very<em>) loosely inspired by the Fallout: New Vegas quest "Restoring Hope" in which you have to help the NCR base Camp Forlorn Hope to take back the town of Nelson.

And for anyone who would have asked, I'm already doing two ill-advised video game fanfic adaptations, so no. No Fallout: New Vegas fic from me.


	25. A Wish to Return, part I

It's amazing I can find just about any excuse to procrastinate when I should be writing. In any event, this is the beginning of the second act of Dragon Knight. This was one of the first chapters I had a real concrete plan on and it hasn't changed much over time. I never thought I'd get here, so I'll just get on it.

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><p>A few days passed as Appa soared toward Omashu. It would have been quite a long way on foot, but they were making excellent time flying over all the mountains and other topography that they would have had to traverse. Still, the group didn't want to exhaust themselves, so they decided to take a break in a nearby river before making the final push to Omashu.<p>

While Sokka, Appa, and Momo relaxed, the other half of the group was hard at work honing their bending skills. Katara and Aang stood in the shin high waters near the shore, the former tutoring the latter in various waterbending forms. Tom sat Indian-style near a natural stone arch by the river. He was making good on his promise to himself to take his training more seriously. His Pressure Barrier was merely a stepping stone to the technique Tom hoped to create, but to do that, he'd have to master the Barrier perfectly if he had any hope of his idea not backfiring.

To do this, he using a modified version of the leaf exercise that Jong Jong had taught him. He held the little, easily burnt leaf gingerly with both hands as the furious heat of his Barrier swirled around it. The heat was close, any closer and it would have auto-ignited. This closeness was matched by the rest of the Barrier that wrapped around his body. It took almost no effort to hold up so little of it; no wasted heat, no wasted energy. The way he was, he could have spent the whole day like that and not broken a sweat. It still wasn't perfect yet, though. It took all his focus to keep the Barrier like that. A single lapse in concentration and the leaf would burst into flame. The leaf burst into flame as the sound of cheerful music approached from the nearby path. "Wonderful," Tom mumbled to himself, "we have guests…"

"Hey, river people!" the leader of the colorful group of musicians addressed as he and his companions approached Aang and the other in the water. Tom remembered them from the show. They were five what amounted to hippies in traditional Chinese garb. It… oddly worked for them now that Tom was paying them the slightest attention.

"We're not river people…" Katara corrected politely.

"You're not? Than what kind of people are you?"

"We're just… people," Aang supplied tentatively.

That seemed enough for the man, "Aren't we all, brother~?"

By now, Sokka had the chance to get up from his relaxed position and point an accusing finger at the happy and colorfully dressed man, "Who are you?"

"I'm Chong," he said without missing a beat, "And this is my wife Lily. We're nomads. Happy to go wherever the wind takes us!"

"You guys are nomads?" Aang asked enthusiastically, "That's great, I'm a nomad!"

"Hey, me too!"

"I know… You just said that…"

"Oh," Chong said, not really seeming to get it. Still he moved on to address Sokka; "Nice underwear…" Sokka quickly decided it was time to get dressed.

"Dude," Tom said sarcastically, "Can I have some of whatever it is you're smoking?"

"Sure thing, brother. Gift of the earth and all that, right?" Tom paused a beat. He didn't actually expect to get an answer, let alone "yes".

Tom, being the only one who didn't go into the river and therefore was the only one dressed, was left to keep their new friends company. It was… tolerable. Chong and his group were constantly, insufferably happy, but they were also constantly happy. So that was something. After everyone was properly dressed, Sokka made a point of packing as quickly as possible. Aang, Katara, and even Appa spent the couple of minutes letting Chong's friends arrange their hair with flowers (or, in Aang's case, just make a flower wreath for him). Tom insisted that he rather not be touched, and instead spent the time practicing his archery with the bow he took from the Yu-Yan archers.

He was a good shot with a bow even against moving targets, but he always had to remind himself to lead the target. That was fine when one is practice shooting, but not something acceptable in the heat of battle. With the bow slung over one shoulder, he'd toss a small piece of wood into the air. With a quick motion, Tom would flick the bow into his hand, knock an arrow and fire. He hit most of his shots, getting a round of applause for each, and on the occasions where he missed, he'd get words of encouragement. _You know what_, Tom decided in his head,_ we could do worse for temporary companions_.

Finally, Sokka said it was time for them to leave. Chong and his group wanted to show them some of the wonders they had seen in their travels, but Sokka had one and only one destination in mind; "O-ma-sha!"

"Sokka's right," she admitted, "We need to find King Bumi so Aang can learn earthbending somewhere safe."

"Well, then it sounds like you're headed to Omashu," Chong decided. Sokka facepalmed. "There's an old story about a passage… right through the mountains…!"

"Is this real, or a legend?" Katara asked cautiously.

"Oh, it's a real legend," Chong assured unhelpfully, "And it's as old as earthbending itself." With that, Chong and his companions began a new song, much to Sokka's chagrin. The song was a cheery one that sounded vaguely like the beginning of Romeo & Juliet. Except there was a mountain or something. Chong stopped for a second in the middle of the song, "…Yeah, I forget the couple of lines, but then it goes: Secret Tunnel~! Secret Tunnel~! Through the mountain~! Secret, secret, secret, secret tunnel~~, yeah…"

Needless to say, Sokka was unmoved, "I think we'll just stick with flying. We've dealt with the Fire Nation before."

"Yeah, thanks for the help," Aang said sincerely, "but Appa hates going underground. And we need to do whatever makes Appa most comfortable."

"Yeah, I'll go for the cave, I think," Tom said knowingly.

Sokka did a double take, "What? Why?!"

"I'd put money on it being the better route."

"Oh yeah? You think going through some secret cave is faster than flying there on Appa?" Sokka scoffed.

"What's say we make a race out of it?"

"Fine! You're on!" Sokka rushed into Appa's saddle, "Come on, Katara, Aang! Before he gets a head start!"

"I don't know…" Aang said, unsure. He recognized that confident grin on Tom's face.

"What? Don't you have faith in Appa?" Sokka's goading was all the persuasion Aang needed and they were off like a shot.

"Are you really going to separate from your friends like that?" Chong asked.

Tom just smiled, "Give it, like, twenty minutes. They'll be back."

Twenty minutes later: "Secret Love Cave, let's go…"

* * *

><p>I've actually been tossing around whether or not to end this here, but ultimately, I think this fits. When I get back around to it and fix up this story, I'll probably combine these two, but given the current pace I think this fits well enough.<p>

And I'd make another comment about how I find ass-kissing reviews insulting and would prefer to get helpful critiques or nothing at all, but apparently even boldface ALLCAPSRAGE can't even get the message across to some people. Though I'd also like to say to the _very few_ people who have listened and acquiesced, I sincerely and wholeheartedly thank you.


	26. A Wish to Return, part II

This should be easy enough to get done since I kind of cheated on the last one. This is one of the more important chapters insofar as how I tell my story, so useful criticism would be much appreciated. Also, I got a comment from an anonymous user that sounded like it wanted a response. I hope you know I can't do that if you don't use an account. But this is all off topic. Hopefully I can get what I'm after out of this.

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><p>As the group approached the base of the mountain, along a path lined with statues, Sokka's impatience <em>shockingly<em> got the better of him. "How far are we from the tunnel?"

"Actually, it's not just one tunnel," Chong provided unhelpfully, "The lovers didn't want anyone to find out about their love, so they built a whole labyrinth!"

"Labyrinth?!"

"I'm sure we'll figure it out," Chong assured. That seemed enough for Sokka. Until Lily spoke up…

"All we need to do is trust in love. …According to the curse."

"Curse?!"

"Hey! We're here!" Finally they arrived at the cursed labyrinth. Some of the statues did seem to have a somewhat demonic bent to them, though Tom spotted Buddhist influences that he recognized as more benevolent. Still, there was something foreboding about the place. It seemed like the very mountain wanted you to turn back. Tom knew that some of the wildlife was dangerous and wondered if that was what was giving off the spirit of dread. Or perhaps the spirit of the two lovers yet lingered there and didn't want trespassers on their hallowed ground.

"What exactly is this curse?" Sokka asked, getting right to the point.

"The curse says that only those who trust in love can make it through the caves. Otherwise you'll be trapped in them forever," Chong explained.

"And die!" his wife quickly added.

"Oh, yeah. And die." Suddenly his mood brightened is it was want to do, "Hey! I just remembered the rest of that song!" He stepped toward the mouth of the cave and dramatically strummed his instrument once, "…and die…" Of course, that didn't fill in everything, but no one was about to bring that up. Especially not Sokka.

"That's it!" he declared, "There is no way we are going into some cursed hole!"

"I don't think we have much of a choice," Tom said motioning behind them at a rising pillar of smoke. "Looks like we're going to have some unwelcome company."

"The Fire Nation," Sokka breathed, "They're tracking us."

The situation seemed dire. No one was rushing to venture into the purportedly cursed labyrinth, but they couldn't stand around for long with what looked like a large Fire Nation platoon on their heels. Aang was the first to speak. "So all you need to do is trust in love to get through these caves?" he asked Chong, who was tuning his instrument.

"That's correct, Master Arrowhead," he said whimsically before turning back to his tuning.

That and a look at Katara was all Aang needed to hear. "We can make it."

Aang's confidence seemed to decide for Sokka and everyone else. "Everyone into the hole!" Sokka ordered.

Not long after, the group could hear Fire Nation tanks arriving at the mouth of the cave. They stopped and after a few seconds the sounds of a cave-in rang out. The light provided by the sun was cut off abruptly, leaving the group in total darkness. Luckily, Chong's group happened to have torches that were bright enough to illuminate the cave as well as the sun had. They backtracked a bit to the entrance to find it completely closed off by rubble.

As bad as the situation seemed, it didn't really change the plan. They intended to go through the cave and the entrance being blocked was scary, but acceptable. That didn't stop the semi-claustrophobic Appa from trying to dig his way out.

"It's okay, Appa," Katara assured, "We'll be fine. I hope…"

"We will be fine," Sokka was next to assure. "All we need is a plan. Chong, how long do those torches last?"

"Uh, about two hours."

"And we have five touches," Lilly said happily, holding the items in question. "So that's…" she struck the four unlit torches at once, "…ten hours!"

Sokka quickly snatched the torches and stamped them out on the ground. "It doesn't work like that if they're all lit at the same time!" he grumbled as the last one went out.

"Oh, right…"

"I'm going to make a map to keep track of exactly where we've been," Sokka said retrieving parchment and a brush from the supplies on Appa's saddle. "That way we can solve it like a maze and get out of here."

"Maybe you should let me draw the map, Sokka," Tom suggested, "Your art skills aren't exactly world class."

"My art skills are just fine!" Sokka shot back as the group started down what was so far their only option. "And besides, I know a few tricks for getting out of mazes. Just trust me."

"Maybe there's a specific trick for getting us out of here?" Tom questioned. "Perhaps love being the way out is some kind of riddle?"

"Well, by the time you figure out your love riddle, we'll already be out, so…" Sokka paused as they reached their first branching path, "…just let me concentrate." Tom knew he was right, but what the hell. He decided to let Sokka have his fun. They'd get out eventually.

After some aimless wandering and the expenditure of one torch, Katara decided to hazard "breaking Sokka's concentration" and point out a problem.

"Sokka, this is the tenth dead end you've led us to."

"This doesn't make sense, we already came through here!" Sokka grumbled. Indeed, Tom noticed that one wall looked exactly like the entrance. But somehow the path they had taken was gone leaving two others. Tom was the only one who knew why. "There's only one explanation. The tunnels are changing."

As much as Tom didn't like sharing his precognition lest he be asked how he came to that conclusion, he spoke up. "Is it possible that badgermoles in the area are altering the caves around us?"

"I've heard of them," one of the hippy dancers spoke up, "They're these big, earthbending, toothy things that live underground."

Sokka thought briefly on it, "It is possible that they could change the tunnels if they can earthbend…" A rumbling in the background seemed to confirm this.

"The tunnels, they're a-changing! I knew we shouldn't have come down here…" Chong said in a surprisingly mellow panic. Sokka was unamused by his antics. But before the conversation could go any further, the sound of something approaching caught everyone's attention. Out of the darkness rushed a brown dog-like creature with a stubbed nose and wing like forearms. "It's a giant flying thing with teeth!"

"No, it's a wolfbat!"

The beast rushed toward the group, intent to make a meal out of someone, but Sokka rushed toward it with the lit torch. He tried to drive it away with the flame, but the wolfbat knocked it from his hand and into Appa's leg. The giant Sky Bison went into a frenzy at the sudden heat assaulting his leg and ended up smashing into the walls nearby, causing another cave-in. Aang used his airbending to push most of the group out of the way. The debris started to fill in and cut off the branching paths of the cave. Tom had to jump out of the way on his own toward a small path off to the side. The falling rocks seemed to follow him and as the light of the torch faded, the rocks closed in around him.

Tom wasn't sure how long he was out. A minute? An hour? It didn't really matter. What did matter was he was trapped in a small pocket made by some rather large boulders. They had sheltered him from most of the rocks, though he did feel like he'd ben tenderized after the cave-in. Tom couldn't see a thing, but he could sense his only way out was filled with rubble. Well, it was now or never. At least he wasn't testing his new technique out in combat. If someone had been watching the rubble from the other side, they'd see it glow red for a moment before blasting out with a roaring flame. Tom reached his hand out from the natural tomb, his body still wrapped head to toe in flames. The only reason he wasn't burned to death by his own flames was the thin cushion provided by his pressure barrier. But even with all the work he had put into it, the flames didn't take long to burn through his strength.

Tom tried to pull himself out of the hole, but he was stopped by something painfully gripping his ankle. He gasped in pain when he tried to pull if free; it was trapped by some rather large rocks. "Oh, damn it. Okay… Dragon Burst one more time. One, two, three!" His body ignited again, illuminating the black cave. The heat, the pressure, and the force of the flames moved the rocks just enough for Tom to blast free. This caused the little nook that saved him to collapse, but that was no longer his concern. The force that broke him free from the rocks had propelled him hard into the ceiling. He dropped immediately onto the hard ground with a thud.

Tom gripped his left leg. His ankle was screaming and he could feel a little trickle of blood running from it. It wasn't anything life threatening, or even sprained, but that and the exhaustion of using Dragon Burst for the first time was almost too much for him. He got up all the same and lit a candle sized flame (all he could manage), and started down the narrow path. "No way. I am not going to buy it down here. Go ahead, life! Kick me again! Put as many mountains between me and the end of this bullshit as you want! I'll still get home! I won't quit until I do!" He almost tripped over the uneven path as his flame started to flicker with his vision. But the closer he got to rest, the clearer the visage of a certain girl came into view. Than another, younger one. Than an older woman. Than a few more people, and a house, and a life, and everything worth fighting for. Tom snapped out of his daze and continued. "Just keep going…"

Eventually exhaustion claimed his flame and he was left in the dark. It didn't claim his will, however, and after a second the path started to glow a comforting green. In his exhaustion he had forgotten the luminescent crystals that lined the path out of the cave. Though, it was complete luck that he happened to be there when his flame went out. Or who knows? Maybe love did lead the way?

Apparently he wasn't too far from the exit, thank goodness. He had to shield his eyes from the light as he limped out of the cave. Katara gasped at the sight of him as he hobbled over. "Oh my goodness, Tom! Are you alright?"

Tom smiled as much as he could, "Yeah. I'll be fine as soon as I regain consciousness." Before anyone registered what he had said, Tom had already begun his dirt nap.

* * *

><p>Literally the first joke I came up with for this series was the one that I ended this chapter with. Getting this far makes me really feel like I've put a dent in it and I'm really happy to have stuck with this so far. Over all, I think this is what I was looking for out of this. I could ask for helpful reviews again, but all that does is make me angry when people ignore me.<p>

This is definitely the kind of thing that I intend to fix when I redo this. Specifically combine these last two chapters into one. I don't think the way it is is _awful _but it really doesn't have any business being two parts. Though outside of that, I don't really think I can complain about what I was able to do with this. I pretty much got out of it what I wanted, pushing Tom's backstory while keeping it minimalist. I recall watching Gundam OO around the time I started writing this, and it's pretty heavily influenced the way I've been trying to tell the story. I'd like to think I've pulled it off thus far.


	27. A Wish to Restore

Not working that far ahead, but I'll take what I can get. This should be a fairly easy and rewarding chapter. Here's hoping.

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><p>Tom groaned and rolled over. His ankle stung like a mountain fell on it (go figure), but at least he didn't feel like he was about to expire. He sat up to see Aang, Katara, and Sokka staring out at Omashu at the top of the nearby hill. It was clear that they didn't like what they saw. Tom already knew the sad sight he was about to see when he hobbled up to them.<p>

"Tom," Katara said happily, "You're awake."

"For better or worse," Tom complained. He limped up to the crest of the hill to see Omashu. The city had been horribly defaced. Fire Nation flags covered every Earth Kingdom insignia that couldn't be removed, and many construction projects littered the city. The stone metropolis was quickly becoming a metal one. A giant metal statue of the Fire Lord remained mostly hidden behind scaffolding and thick black pillars of smoke wafted up from several houses.

"I can't believe it," Aang lamented, "I know the war has spread far, but Omashu always seemed… untouchable."

"Until now it was," Sokka said, trying to sound as comforting as he could. Though that was hard with what he had to say. "Now Ba Sing Se is the only Earth Kingdom stronghold left."

"This is horrible. But we have to move on," Katara said, placing a kind hand on Aang's shoulder.

Aang stepped forward with a look of unshakeable determination on his face, "No. I'm going in to find Bumi."

"Aang, stop. We don't even know if Bumi's still…"

Aang cut off Sokka in his hesitation, "What? If he's still what?"

"…Around."

"Bumi would have no reason to leave the city," Tom noted. "And it's unlikely the Fire Nation would just kill him. They're more inclined toward breaking spirits than wholesale slaughter."

"So do you think he might still be in the city somewhere?" Katara asked hopefully.

Tom nodded, "Probably in some kind of cell, but yeah. There's a distinct possibility."

"But we have to weigh the risks," Sokka reminded them, "There's no guarantee we'll find him even if he is there. And if we get captured, it's all over."

"It's worth it," Aang said strongly. "No matter what, I'm _going_ to find my friend."

The four loaded themselves onto Appa and Aang guided the Sky Bison not towards the city, but to a cliff below it. On a ledge below the city, they found a large metal pipe covered with a grate. "A secrete passage?" Sokka asked, "Why didn't we just use this last time?" Once Aang pried the grate free with his staff, a thick, sickly green "liquid" that had no business being stopped by a grate, burst forth. The smell was enough to keel over the faint of heart.

"Does that answer your question?" Aang returned before braving the flood of sludge.

Katara stopped Tom before he could climb in the sewer pipe after Aang. "Wait," she said to him, "Maybe you should stay here with Appa. I was able to heal most of your injuries, but you're still hurt."

"I'm not a cripple," Tom grumbled, "I can still walk just fine, just with a little limp."

Katara didn't seem as sure as he was, but she nodded all the same. The rest of the group climbed into the sewer drain with about as much enthusiasm as one can have when climbing into a sewer drain. Aang's airbending and Katara's waterbending kept them clean as Aang led the group up toward the city. Tom's Pressure Barrier was harder to keep up than it should have been, but it still kept him dry and away from anything nasty in the "water". Sokka wasn't as lucky given his skill set.

Aang found the first manhole cover he could and used his airbending to push it open. After a quick look around to make sure the coast was clear, he, Katara, and Tom climbed gratefully out of the sewer. "That wasn't as bad as I thought," the waterbender said as she checked her clothes for any stray filth. However, instead of Sokka bringing up the rear, a greenish blob monster climbed out of the sewer after them. Katara guessed what it really was after the shock wore off and used water from a nearby barrel to wash away the slime. Once Sokka was uncovered, Aang dried him off with some airbending.

It took Sokka an extra second after his impromptu bath to realize there were several strange purple creatures attached to his face. He tried pulling them off to no avail. "They won't let go! Help!" Aang tackled his panicking friend into a wall and he calmed down.

"Stop making so much noise," Aang said calmly, "It's just a purple pentapus." Sokka didn't seem as relaxed as the little creatures sucked on his face. Aang simply scratched them lightly on the head and they let go with a squeak. Sokka was quickly relieved of his stowaways, but apparently he had already alerted the guards. Aang quickly repurposed his belt into a hat to hide his arrow.

"Hey," one of the guards called to them, "What are you doing out past curfew?"

Tom quickly bowed, "Forgive us, sir. We were late to get medicine for my friend here, so we snuck out."

The guard looked over at Sokka, noting the spots. "Well," he decided, "I guess it's for a good cause. Just don't let it happen again."

Tom bowed again, "Thank you, sir."

"Jeez, what's he got?" one of the firebender guards asked.

"He's… got pentapox, sir," Katara said quickly. One of the guards reached out a hand to touch Sokka, but Katara stopped him. "It's highly contagious…"

Sokka, deciding to play along put on his best sick face and started moaning, "Ohh, it's so awful, I'm dying!"

"…And deadly."

The guards immediately backed up as Sokka shuffled toward them like a zombie. "Hey, I think I've heard of pentapox. Didn't your cousin Chang die of it?" The guards ran off as Sokka started to cough at them to wash their hands… and burn their clothes!

Aang smiled at one of the little creatures he still had and scratched its head gratefully, "Thank you sewer friend."

With that out of the way, they started their search for Bumi. They knew they would keep him away from any earth to keep him from using his bending to escape. Unfortunately, most of Omashu was being covered in metal. In their search, they noticed what looked like a noblewoman and her teenaged daughter walking on a lower terrace of the city. With a rumble, two boulders started rolling down the steps of the city at them. Aang knocked the boulders away with a sweep of his staff before they had a chance to hit anyone. The teenaged girl thanked him by firing a barrage of flechettes at him.

She and some more guards gave chase. The guards were easily dealt with, but the girl was much more skilled. And seemed to have more sharp objects on her person than was necessary. That and her dark dress and makeup might have led Tom to an insensitive joke, but he knew they would be seeing more of her even after they left Omashu.

As the chase progressed, they were brought underground with a trap door. Suddenly they didn't have a blade-wielding crazy girl and were surrounded by a small army of earthbenders. Apparently they had been saved by the Omashu resistance movement. They heard about what had happened to Omashu since the invasion and how the people have been fighting back. The mood turned spiteful when the topic changed to King Bumi. "The day of the invasion I asked him what to do. He looked me in the eye and said 'I'm going to do nothing'! It doesn't matter now. Fighting the Fire Nation is the only path to freedom. And freedom is worth dying for."

"Personally," Tom cut in, "I think freedom is worth living for."

"You don't understand…"

"I do," Tom assured, "It's hard to sacrifice yourself for what you believe in. But it's even harder to persevere and make the impossible choices you need to to truly succeed. Being a martyr here won't do anything but cause more pointless death."

"He's right," Aang agreed. "It would be better to leave Omashu. You're directing all your energy toward fighting the Fire Nation. But you're outnumbered, you can't win. Now is the time to retreat and live to fight another day."

The resistance commander was readying another rebuke, but he quickly saw the citizens and even his own men were siding with the Avatar. "Fine," he said begrudgingly, "But there's thousands of citizens that need to leave. How are we going to get them all out?"

"Suckers!" Everyone tuned at Sokka's strange declaration. He smiled, "You're all about to come down with a nasty case of pentapox."

After the extraordinarily unpleasant experience of getting the marks from the purple pentapus, Tom shuffled out of the city with the rest of the zombie horde. His limp even turned out to be helpful in creating a convincing performance! Though, most of the time Tom was more inclined to _avoid_ becoming part of a zombie horde, but you work with what you've got.

For as well as the plan worked, they somehow managed to collect the Fire Nation's governor. The governor sent them a letter that night offering a trade. His son for King Bumi. The next morning, Aang and the others prepared for the trade and boarded Appa. The location was under the incomplete statue of the Fire Lord. Instead of the governor arriving, three girls, including the one that had attacked them two nights ago arrived. Other than the goth, there was a much more bubbly-looking girl in a circus outfit, and one in light armor that bore a resemblance to Zuko.

Bumi was in a coffin-shaped metal box with a window for his face. It was lowered behind the three girls. In spite of his condition, Bumi seemed in high spirits. Before the trade could begin, the girl in armor spoke to the goth girl. They were too far away to hear what they were saying, but once the brief conversation, the goth snapped her fingers, "The deal's off!" With that Bumi started to ascend.

Aang rushed to help him, but the girl in armor loosed blue flames at him. If the airbending Aang used to avoid her attack didn't give him away as the Avatar, his head covering falling off did. The armored girl rushed to one of the lifts to get up the scaffolding quickly to catch her target, but she stopped when she saw Tom in her way. "Princess Azula, I presume. I must admit, you are lovely in person."

Azula smiled, "I see my reputation precedes me. And you're that firebending 'knight' that's been getting in the Fire Nation's way." Tom nodded with a similar, knowing smile. "It is a pity talent like yours is fighting for the wrong side. But nobody gets in _my_ way."

Azula launched a quick barrage of small, but precise fireballs at Tom. They were easy enough for Tom to block. But once he knocked the last one out of the way, Azula was already on him and half way through a powerful flaming kick. Tom blocked it, but his left leg almost buckled when it tried to brace the impact. Another kick from the other side was ducked, severing the line that held a heavy platform in place. The end of the rope that was cut started toward the other end of the pulley as the platform fell. Both Tom and Azula grabbed onto it and started skyward, fighting with their three free limbs the whole way up.

Fighting Zuko to Tom was like fighting a lion. Overwhelmingly powerful and direct. Azula struck him more as a scorpion; every part of her body was a deadly weapon, each able to kill you in a unique and horrible way. When they reached the top, they blasted through the plywood scaffolding. Azula launched an attack at Aang who had just managed to freeze the chain holding Bumi's box to the crane and sending them down into the mail system slides.

Azula moved toward one of the stone cars, but Tom blocked her path again. "You're persistent, aren't you?" she asked cheekily.

"To a fault."

Azula sighed, "Apparently. But as fun as this has been, I have somewhere to be." Tom blocked a flurry of Azula's two-fingered fire darts, but didn't see her leg sweep in time to dodge it. Her flaming heel crashed into his left ankle and took out his legs out from under him. Tom yelped in pain and landed on the scaffolding hard enough to crack it. When he shook the stars from his vision and carefully rolled off the broken board, Azula was already after Aang and Bumi. He tried to get up and give chase, but he fell again as soon as he tried to put weight on his left leg. He looked down at his pant leg and saw that the red stain there was growing brighter as new blood leaked from his wound. Azula's kick was hard enough to reopen the wound Katara had closed.

Just a moment later, Sokka and Katara arrived with Appa and helped Tom to the saddle. The chase ended without them at the bottom end of the Omashu mail system. Unfortunately, for all of that work, Bumi revealed that he couldn't leave. He had a plan to take back Omashu and he had to wait. But he did give Aang a lead to finding his destined earthbending teacher. And Tom got a chance to fight Azula. That was worth it, even though he handily lost. He'd have another shot at her. And next time she wouldn't have an injury to exploit.

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><p>I could have cut this one into two, but I didn't want to gyp however many people read this. And on top of that, because I didn't get lazy I was able to get what I wanted from this. Tom actually had things to do as opposed to just being a third wheel. Given I'm not trying to make so many changes that this gets out of control and starts to be unrecognizable, it's been hard at times. I'd like to have had more of a fight between Tom and Azula, but this was supposed to be just a taste. I think this works as a gateway to the next part of the story. (And hell, it's not like anyone's going to be respectful enough to tell me otherwise…)<p> 


	28. A Wish to Connect

Another last minute update. I have time though, so it could be worse. I have to thank the few people who actually respect me enough to give me real reviews. I had an idea for what to do with this chapter of course, but it was pretty bare bones and not very creative. I hope I can make this work for the story. I'm going for a very particular style so "The Swamp" is a great opportunity for me. This will probably undergo heavy revisions in my second draft, but hopefully I can do a good job and paint a real picture here.

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><p>A day and a half had passed since Omashu. Without any real knowledge of where Aang's destined earthbending teacher may be, the group didn't have any particular destination in mind. The only direction that they could really settle on was toward Earth Kingdom-controlled territory. The group ultimately just took a general south westerly direction to avoid the Fire Nation conquests to the west and the baron Si Wong Desert directly to the east. Without any specific destination in mind, they just set out and looked for civilization.<p>

It was a relaxing clear afternoon as Appa sailed over an overgrown swamp in a natural valley. The four kids were just relaxing, Sokka sharpening his machete, Katara looking over one of the waterbending scrolls, and Tom reading the copy of _The Prince_ he arrived with. It was Aang's turn at the reins as the seemingly endless swamp. It took a minute for anyone to notice, but for some reason, Aang's leaned Appa into a shallow decent toward the tangled life below.

Sokka was the first to look up and see the clouds lifting above them. "Hey, you taking us down for a reason?" he asked Aang as Tom and Katara looked up as well. Aang didn't answer. He didn't even move, just staring blankly at the swamp below. "Aang!" Sokka called out a little more forcefully. This time it got the airbender's attention and Aang looked up. "Why are you taking us down?"

"What?" Aang looked around and saw the scenery below them getting closer. He rubbed his eyes as he fully snapped out of his trance, "…I didn't even notice."

"Are you noticing now?"

"Is something wrong?" Katara asked as she and Tom joined Sokka at the front of the saddle.

Aang paused as he looked down at the growth below, "I know this is going to sound weird, but I think the swamp is… calling to me. I think it wants us to land there."

"No offence to the swamp, but I don't see much land to land on."

Aang ignored Sokka's comment as he guided Appa to hover just above the high canopy, "Bumi said to learn earthbending I would have to wait and listen. Now I'm actually hearing the earth. Do you want me to ignore it?"

Sokka and Katara took a peek at the swamp over the side of Appa's saddle, "Yes…" Sokka supplied simply after a second.

"I don't know…" Katara said cautiously, "There's something ominous about that place."

"What do you think, Tom?" Aang asked their quiet friend.

He peeked over the side down at the terrain below. He had to admit, there was a dangerous, even forbidding aura about the place. He knew the secret of the swamp, but it still felt like it way trying to push him away. "Well… It's… Not like we have anything better to do…"

Sokka raised his eyebrow, "You sound _so_ convinced." After looking over the side like his human companions, Momo shrunk away from the sight of the swamp and Appa gave a disapproving roar in its direction. "See, even Appa and Momo don't like it here."

"Looks like we're outvoted, Tom," Aang shrugged as he tugged on the reins and pointed Appa toward the sky. "Bye, swamp." Almost the moment Appa started away from the swamp, a tornado whipped up and was on the Sky Bison's heels.

Appa tried to outpace the inexplicable weather, but it kept gaining no matter how fast Appa flew. Even when Appa weaved through the air, trying to shake the tornado, it seemed to follow. It was as if the wind was hell bent on catching the intruders. As the swirling vortex got closer, it started to draw in not just Appa, but his passengers. Aang used his airbending to form a wall around Appa that would keep everyone safe. It seemed to work for a second, but the tornado caught up with Appa and swallowed the air bubble. Aang tried to hold it, but the strain was too great. Bit by bit the tornado beat back Aang's shield.

Tom grabbed onto Sokka and Katara's wrists as Appa's body started to peek out from behind the air shield. "Hold on!" Katara grabbed Aang and pulled him into the huddle as the air shield failed. The swirling air of the tornado ripped the human riders from Appa and Momo and tossed the two groups far in opposite directions.

The four stayed attached to each other most of the way down, only losing their grip on each other after hitting the canopy of the trees. The four of them landed near each other, and miraculously, no one was hurt as the picked themselves out of the water and looked around. Appa and Momo were nowhere to be found. Aang hopped up to the treetops to look for them as his ground bound companions recovered.

"Sokka, you've got an elbow leech," Katara told her brother.

Sokka immediately panicked, "Where?! Where?!"

"Where do you think?"

Sokka found it on his elbow and immediately grabbed at it and pulled, "Why do things keep attaching to me?!"

"Wait, you're supposed to-" Too late, Sokka had already yanked the thing off him and tossed it back in the water (unintentionally near Katara to her irritation).

"What?"

"You're not supposed to grab leeches around their midsection," Tom explained, "If you squeeze to hard you can get it to spit something bad right into your bloodstream."

"You sure know a lot, Tom," Katara complimented.

He just shrugged it off, "Misspent youth."

Aang dropped down from the trees and looked at the others with worry. "You couldn't find them?" Katara asked.

"No. And the tornado's gone too," Aang said, perplexed.

Now that they had their heads about them, they had the chance to look around the swamp and get their bearings. After the spin-dry they got from the mysterious vanishing tornado, their sense of direction was completely thrown off. And that feeling of dread that had emanated from the swamp settled back in around them.

They set off in a direction that seemed right, Sokka leading with his machete. "Maybe we should be a little nicer to the swamp…" Aang suggested as another swath of vines fell to Sokka's blade.

"Aang, there just plants!" Sokka returned, "Do you want me to say 'please' and 'thank you' as I swing my machete back and forth?"

"Maybe you should listen to him," Katara said, looking around for the eyes she could feel on her, "Something about this place feels… _alive_."

"I'm sure there are plenty of things that are alive out here. And if we don't want to end up getting eaten by one, we'd better find Appa as fast as we can."

That was the rest of the day in a nutshell. Sokka hacking his way through the vines to the protest of Aang and Katara. All four called out for their lost friends, but to no avail. The light of the setting sun was devoured by the tangle of the swamp all too fast. Even with a flame from Tom leading the way, the darkness of the swamp consumed their vision. "Appa? Momo!"

"There's no way they can hear us," Sokka said regrettably, "And no way we can see them. We'll have to make camp for the night."

Something moved in the darkness beyond their vision that made Katara jump, "W-what was that?"

"Nothing," her brother dismissed, "Just swamp gas. Look, there's nothing supernatural going on here." A beat passed and something screamed. All four kids huddled together in wide-eyed fear. Even Tom, having forgotten about the screaming bird. Even after spotting it, his heart rate remained uncomfortably high. "I think we should build a fire…"

Sokka rushed off and started hacking branch-like roots off one of the nearby plants. "Sokka, the longer we're here, the more I think you shouldn't be doing that," Aang warned.

"No, I asked the swap," Sokka shrugged off, "It said this was fine. Right swamp?" He grabbed a branch and shook it as he spoke in a silly voice, "No problem, Sokka." And without skipping a beat, he chopped the branch off.

"As worrying Sokka's disregard for the local flora is," Tom started with and eye roll, "We really should make a fire. It'd keep wild animals away."

Sokka scoffed as he gathered the last of the wood. "Not you too, Tom," he grumbled, "I thought you didn't believe in all that supernatural stuff."

"I don't," Tom agreed. "I'm not the type of person who'll cry ghost at the drop of a hat. Or just give up and say 'some things just can't be explained'." He paused to drop a flame on the firewood, giving the giant root they were on a comforting glow. "I think that every question out there has a definitive answer, but that doesn't mean there are things in the world that defy any explanation we have right now. The world can be a really weird place at times." Especially if you find yourself teleported into a cartoon… "Magic is just what we call science we don't understand yet."

Sokka raised an eyebrow, "That sounds way too enlightened for you. That's the sort of thing I expect from Aang."

"I think it's a great way to look at things," Katara smiled. Sokka remained incredulous. The four settled in around the campfire. They didn't have anything to eat or much to talk about, so the fire quickly became the most interesting thing there. Tom absently rubbed his ankle with a scowl. "Are you okay, Tom?" Katara asked, noticing his grimace. "Do you need me to heal your leg again?"

"No," he sighed, "It's just sore. Azula's got one hell of a kick…"

"Yeah, your girlfriend sure is mean," Sokka teased. Tom just snorted at the idea.

"You know who those girls from Omashu were?" Aang asked Tom.

He nodded, "They're pretty famous where I'm from. The one to watch out for is the one with the blue fire. That's Azula. She's Zuko's sister."

There was a collective gasp from the others. "Zuko has a sister?!" Sokka cried.

Tom nodded again. "Yeah. She's supposed to be a firebending prodigy. She live up to her rep. And she's a total sociopath."

"Fun."

Tom chuckled, "I know, right? She's going to be a real pain."

"Well, I'm sure we can handle whatever she throws at us," Aang smiled. Ever the optimist.

It was hard to get to sleep with all the eyes of the living swamp trained on the strangers spending the night there. Eventually Sokka, then Katara, then Aang fell into the sweet embrace of sleep. Tom remained awake, tending the fire. The world seemed to hold its breath as he stared into the dancing oranges and yellows.

Tom was about to drift off himself when he sensed something behind him. Not eyes, but movement. He turned just in time to avoid the mass of vines that was rushing at him like some kind of strange punch. The vines beat out the fire in a single hit and spun back toward Tom. "Wake-!" The mass of vines slammed into him, throwing him off the root and into the water below.

Tom tried to stand up, but the water was too deep for him to stand on the bottom with his head above water. His stumbling as he tried to tread water gave the vines enough time to wrap around him. Before they had a chance to crush him or drown him or whatever they were planning, Tom ignited into flame. With his entire body shrouded in fire, the water around him was boiled and the vines burned away. The flames propelled him into the air and he landed on a thick branch.

What remained of the vines continued after him and he leaped off the tree branch, tossing a fireball after the pursuing vines. That seemed enough to scare them off. Tom looked around. Of course he couldn't see the others. They were probably on the other side of the swamp by now. Only one thing to do; start walking.

By morning, he had trekked what felt like thirty swamps. Why was he doing this to himself? Why not just wait and let the illusions come to him, magical or otherwise? As if on cue, he saw something through the fog. The vision of a happy family; a little boy being led by the hand by his well-dressed parents. Their backs were turned and they disappeared into the fog of the swamp almost as soon as they appeared. Tom snorted, put his hands in his pockets, and started after them at a leisurely pace. "You're a dick, swamp."

Tom walked after the family for another annoyingly long while, the people appearing just long enough to assure him he was on the right track. How far away is that darn "center of the swamp" tree? Whatever it's called. Too far, that's how far! By this point, Tom had lost all sense of time. It was like the swamp was distorting the world around it. Tom was just about to give up on his vision when he heard a voice.

"Tommy, you're going the wrong way!" a girl's voice said. Tom totally lost his head. He forgot about the swamp and the crazy world he was in and everything but the voice. He whirled around, but there was no body to go with the voice. "You always do that. You always walk _away_ from the people who care about you the most." There was no body, but there was definitely a source to the voice. Tom bolted after the voice. She stopped talking, but he could still hear the occasional giggle or laugh.

Finally, the voice stopped and so did Tom. He looked around as he caught his breath. Finally calming down a bit, he looked up to see the most magnificent tree he had ever laid eyes on. "Oh, hi tree…" A second later, a mass of people slammed into his legs, causing he and the projectile to slide down the large root Tom had stopped on. Tom glanced over at Aang, Katara, and Sokka (the projectile) pick themselves up. "I swear, I'm going to be a paraplegic by the time this is through…"

"What do you guys think you're doing?!" Sokka demanded, "I've been looking all over for you!"

"Well, I've been wandering around looking for you," Katara returned.

"I was chasing some girl," Aang noted.

"What girl?" Katara asked.

"I don't know. I heard laughing and I saw some girl in a fancy dress."

"Well, there must be a tea party and we just didn't get our invitations!" Sokka decided unhelpfully.

Katara paused, getting a somber look on her face. "I thought I saw Mom," she finally said evenly.

Sokka didn't have a quip for that. He waited a moment before continuing seriously, "Look, we were all just scared and hungry, and our minds were playing tricks on us. That's why we all thought we saw something out there."

"You saw something too?" Katara asked.

"…I thought I saw Yue." He paused, remembering the weakened girl back at the North Pole. "But that doesn't prove anything. I've thought about her a lot since we left the North Pole. And you thought you saw Mom, someone you miss a lot."

"What about me?" Aang asked, "I didn't know the girl I saw. And all our visions all led us here." Aang looked up at the massive tree whose root they were standing on. "It's the center of the swamp! It _was_ calling us!"

"Tom?" Katara asked, turning to the firebender, "Did you see anyone?"

"Yes."

There was awkward beat before Katara gave Tom a disapproving look, "Care to elaborate?"

"No."

Sokka groaned loudly, "For the last time! There is nothing supernatural going on here!" Right on cue a massive swamp monster made of vines rose up out of the water behind them. The four scattered as the creature's massive arm came down on the root.

"You do this to yourself, you know," Tom commented as Sokka got grabbed by a vine arm.

"Oh, shut up and help me!"

Aang cut the arm holding Sokka off with a blade of air as Tom dashed up to it, leapt and kicked it in the chest. The fiery kick left a burned patch on the swamp monster. Unfortunately, this didn't give the monster pause as it backhanded Tom away into a tree. The burned patch was absorbed deeper into the monster as new vines were added, healing it completely. Katara knocked it back with a wave, but the monster lifted itself back up and shot a third arm out of its chest at her. She went flying as Aang tried to slice it again with another air slash. The monster absorbed it by folding its new arm across where the air hit. It swung another arm at Aang, but Tom lit it ablaze with a fire blast. The monster stumbled back, but doused the fire in the water below them and continued its attack.

Katara recovered and started striking it with water blades relentlessly. The attacks slashed away at the substance of the creature faster than it could repair itself. That's when Sokka spotted it; "There's someone inside! He's bending the vines!" Before Katara could rip away the last of the vines, a vine arm knocked her away. Aang blasted what was left with a mighty gust. The vines fell away to reveal a middle-aged man with a grass skirt.

"Why did you call us here if you just wanted to kill us?" Aang demanded.

"I didn't call you here," the man said.

"We were flying over and I heard something calling me, telling me to land," Aang explained.

"He's the Avatar," Sokka added, "Stuff like that happens to us a lot."

"The Avatar? Come with me."

As it turned out, the swamp monster was an enlightened man named Hue. And he had only attacked them because he thought Sokka was being a little too rough with the swamp with all the machete swinging. Tom zoned out for most of the rest of the day. He really didn't need to hear about death being an illusion. Though, to the swamp's credit, it did help Aang find Appa and Momo before they were eaten by a group of locals. And the locals turned out to be quite nice on top of that!

It was after dinner that Katara approached Tom. "Would you mind if I asked you something, Tom?"

"Not at all."

"Why didn't you tell us what you saw in the swamp?" She paused and thought for a moment. "Or really anything about yourself? I mean, you haven't even told us where you're from. Is it near the Fire Nation? Why can't you just point it out on a map?"

"Do you not trust me?"

"Don't answer my question with another question! And of course I trust you! You're my friend. I don't care if you're Zuko's long lost brother after all we've been through. But I feel like I don't know anything about you besides what we've been through together."

"Some people just don't like talking about themselves, Katara. And where I'm from is complicated." Katara crossed her arms and shot him a stern look. "Maybe I'll tell you about it someday."

She huffed. "Fine. But I going to hold you to that."

Hopefully Tom would be gone from this world by the time that conversation would come to pass. But the more Tom thought about it, the more bitter that bittersweet that idea became.

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><p>Holy cow, how did I get all of that down?! This may NOT go under heavy revisions when I get back around to it! The ending fight is a bit choppy, but that's about it. I really like this. (I also waxed a bit more poetic than I had intended in one scene, but that's neither here nor there…) It was really hard for me to strike the right balance between the style I'm going for and just outright writing around the story. I think I have it pretty much down for what I was going for! Wow. Pride in my own work. A red letter day! (Still looking for critiques and not noise, but again, neither here nor there.)<p> 


	29. A Wish for the Truth

This will probably be a short and unrewarding chapter. The episode this is based on is very Aang centric without any real way of shifting the focus onto Tom (especially since he already knows the answer to the mystery). I'll do my best, but I suspect this may disappear in later incarnations of this story…

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><p>It was a morning like any other. The lazy morning began with some shenanigans between Sokka and Momo that Tom slept through, followed by the rumbling of incoming rampaging beasts. You know you live through odd mornings when that's not enough to give you pause.<p>

For once, Tom was awoken by all the commotion, though only after the leader of the five intimidating looking Fire Nations soldiers correctly announced that they had he and the others surrounded. The leader of the group was a powerful looking man without any weapons, meaning he was probably a firebender. The next was a middle aged man carrying a spear and the air of a veteran. The third had face paint reminiscent of the Yu Yan archers and carried a bow with a lighter built on it to set his missiles alight before firing. The fourth was the largest man by far and used a twin ball and chain weapon. The final wore a face-concealing mask and seemed sheathed in ready to prime explosives. And all of them were riding massive reptile-like creatures with a trifecta of threatening horns at one end and a mighty tail at the other.

Needless to say their demand for surrender went unanswered. It was easy for Aang to get past with an airbending assisted leap. Tom tossed him the groups' packs, which Aang caught in the air and threw into Appa's saddle. The archer in the group took aim at Tom after narrowly missing Sokka. Tom leaned out of the way of the flaming arrow before spinning on his heel and chucking a fireball like a curveball at the attacker. The attack hit its target, knocking the archer off the center of his mount, barely held on by the strap securing him in.

Katara made a break for her waterbending scrolls and Aang for his staff as the Fire Nation cavalrymen broke ranks and started after them individually. Tom, still next to the stump they had camped around, grabbed his sword and quiver before jumping to avoid the heavy iron balls aimed at his legs. He landed on the base of the chain and waited for the twang of another shot from the archer's bow. He jumped again and let the arrow pin the chain to the ground. A burst of fire lifted Tom to Appa's saddle. Both Aang and Katara retrieved their effects and boarded Appa and the sky bison gratefully took off.

The Fire Nation troops were already shrinking away when Sokka realized there was something missing. "Wait! My boomerang!"

"There's no time!" Katara replied.

"Oh, I see," Sokka grumbled, "So there's time to get _your_ scrolls and time to get _your_ staff, but no time for _my_ boomerang?"

"That's correct!" Katara answered with a teasing smile.

"Oh…"

Tom had saved some of the supplies in grabbing the groups' backpacks, but most of the food was left behind in the scuffle. The party stopped by a small fruit stand to restock their food supplies before moving on. Needless to say, Sokka spent the time moping about the loss of his boomerang.

"I feel like I've lost part of my identity…" Sokka lamented. "Imagine if you lost your arrows," he said to Aang, "Or if you lost your blue coat thingy."

Tom glanced at his hoodie, "I got this for fifteen bucks at Walmart. It's not exactly my most prized possession."

"Whatever," Sokka scowled, "I don't know what that means, but the point is I'm having an existential crisis here!"

Tom shrugged, "Well, every boomerang comes back in the end, right?"

"Very funny," he grumbled in return as he trudged up to the storefront.

The merchant handed the basket containing their newly purchased fruit over to Sokka, "Here's your produce, pony-tail guy."

"I used to be boomerang guy…"

Ignoring Sokka's lament, Katara paid the merchant as he closed up his shack. "Hey, Water Tribe money!" he noted.

"I hope that's okay," Katara said with a smile.

"So long as it's money." He closed the window to the shack and started down a nearby path, "Have a nice Avatar Day!"

"Avatar Day?" Aang asked.

"You guys are going to the festival, right?"

The nearby town was indeed having a festival. The party joined the party, Aang electing to wear a hat to cover his arrow. The deep fried pastries seemed to be all Sokka needed to get out of the dumps. The entire town was out and enjoying their own unique holiday for the Avatar. Of course the true nature of the festival was not as it seemed.

"Look," Katara pointed toward main street, "They made a giant Kyoshi float!"

It was quite an impressive piece of art. Tom pitied what the town intended to do with it.

"Here comes Avatar Roku," Sokka noted as the next float was wheeled toward the town square.

"Having a huge festival in your honor is great," Aang admitted, "But frankly, it's just nice to be appreciated."

"And it's nice to appreciate their deep fried festival food!" Sokka added. As he started on the pastry, a float of Aang started past them. Katara pointed it out happily.

"It's the biggest me I've ever seen!" Aang smiled.

As the three floats were placed in the center of town, a man with a torch appeared behind them on the path. Once he got to the back of the Kyoshi float, he smashed his way through the base, tearing a hole in the float and setting it alight. As the Kyoshi float burned and the torch was used to ignite the Roku float, the crowd started chanting, "Down with the Avatar, Down with the Avatar!"

"We should probably stop going to festivals, huh?" Tom noted in passing.

The torch was tossed into the face of the Aang float for the grand finally. That was too much for Katara, she used some of the water nearby to put out the fires, leaving all three floats in a poor state, but still intact at least. "That party pooper is ruining Avatar Day!" someone in the crowd cried.

Aang leaped onto the shoulder of his paper mache counterpart. "That party pooper is my friend!" Aang announced, taking off his hat. The town actually did quite a good job of capturing Aang's likeness.

"It's the Avatar himself!"

"He's going to kill us with his awesome Avatar powers!"

"No," Aang assured, "I'm not, I-" He would have continued, but the town panicked when he raised his hand to them.

"I suggest you leave, Avatar," a man in fancy robes, the mayor said in a high voice. "You're not welcome here!"

"Why not?" Katara asked politely, "Aang helps people."

"It's true, I'm on your side."

"I find that hard to swallow," the mayor sneered, "Considering what you did in your past life. It was Avatar Kyoshi that murdered our leader Chin the Great!"

Aang looked devastated at the very thought, "You think I… murdered someone?"

"Aang would never do that," Katara said immediately, "No Avatar would!"

"Give me a chance to clear my name," Aang implored.

"The only way for you to prove your innocence is to stand trial," the mayor said snidely.

"I'll gladly stand trial!"

"You'll have to follow all of our rules. That includes paying bail."

"No problem." Seven minutes later, Aang was defending himself to his friends… from the inside of a jail cell. "How was I supposed to know they wouldn't accept Water Tribe money?"

"They would have found a way to deny bail no matter what," Tom sighed.

It took some doing, but eventually Aang convinced Sokka to investigate the case for him. He and Katara would set out to look for evidence to prove Kyoshi, and by extension Aang, innocent. Tom decided that he would stay and "keep Aang company".

"I guess you already know what happened, huh?" Aang asked, to which Tom nodded. "It's too bad you can't just tell the mayor…" Aang thought for a second. "I… _am_ innocent, right?"

Tom paused a second for thought, "Well, technically."

"What do you mean 'technically'?"

"Kyoshi never touched Chin," Tom explained, "He wasn't 'Chin the Great' to everyone. He was better known as Chin the Conquerer. He was about to take over the entire continent and rule it with an iron fist, but Kyoshi stood between him and the peninsula where she and her people lived. Instead of fighting him, she pulled the peninsula off the mainland and created Kyoshi Island. Chin, still standing on the same spot, fell into the lava filled chasm left behind. That's not really murder, per say."

Aang looked like a pallet of bricks had been dropped on him, "But it was still Kyoshi who was responsible for Chin's death… What should I do?"

"That's your choice to make," Tom shrugged. "Kyoshi did the right thing, but the town won't see it that way if you tell the truth. You could also possibly get off if you mention that Kyoshi was on Kyoshi Island when Chin died."

"But that's only because she had just formed the island," Aang lamented. "I… I can't lie. Not about this."

That night, Sokka briefed Aang on his defense. The airbender was despondent; he knew why all the evidence Sokka found pointed to Kyoshi's innocence. The Water Tribe siblings wrote it off as nerves. The next day, Aang stood before the entire town with the mayor and a single guard.

"Everyone loved Chin the Great because he was so great. And then the Avatar showed up and killed him! And that's how it happened," the mayor said snidely to the whole town. Of course, he was playing the role of prosecution, judge, and jury.

"The accused will now present his argument."

"You can do it, Aang," Sokka coached from the seats nearby, "Just remember the evidence."

"Right… evidence." Aang mumbled. He took a deep breath before starting. "At the time of Chin's death, Kyoshi was on Kyoshi Island," Aang announced to the assembled town. He paused before continuing, "But that's because she had just formed the island herself. Chin the Conquerer was on the verge of taking her home, so she tore the peninsula from the mainland. Chin, unwilling to move from the new cliff face fell to his death." The entire town sat shocked at the story. Even Sokka and Katara stared in disbelief at Aang's speech. The airbender hung his head, "That's what really happened."

"Aang, what are you saying?" Katara whispered at him.

The mayor got up from his seat and started toward Aang, "Are… you confessing to the crime, Avatar?"

Aang thought about it for a second. "Sort of, I guess. Avatar Kyoshi didn't kill Chin herself, but it was her actions that led to his death. And it would be wrong of me to mislead all of you after I promised to face justice."

"Well, good then," the mayor said, "At least you finally admit that you maliciously and intentionally murdered Chin the Great!"

"What? No, I-"

"This court finds you guilty! Bring out the wheel of punishment!"

The crowd cheered as the guard brought out a wheel with crude drawing of archaic execution methods, as well as a man sweeping a street. "I said I would face justice. So I will." Aang gave the wheel a good spin. The entire town called out their preferred methods of punishment. Of course Katara had her own preference.

"Community service! Please land on community service!"

The wheel kept on spinning until it landed on… "Looks like it's boiled in oil," the guard said calmly. The crowd cheered the decision until something flew from the back of the crowd and into the temple behind them. A second later the temple exploded.

The town turned around to see the Fire Nation cavalry that had attacked Aang and the others yesterday. "We've come to claim this town in the name of the Fire Lord!" the firebender leader declared. "Now show me your leader so I may…" to punctuate the threat, the soldier with the spear sliced up the statue of Chin that adorned the courtyard, "dethrone him!"

"You! Avatar! Do something!" the mayor immediately demanded.

"Gee, I'd love to help, but I'm supposed to be boiled in oil," Aang answered calmly.

The mayor spun the wheel to the drawing of the man with the broom, "There, community service! Now serve the community and get rid of those rhinos!"

Aang smiled and got to work right away. He dispatched the spear wheeling soldier with two quick air blasts and sent him off the cliff. Luckily for him there wasn't any lava down there now.

The rhinos turned to the town and started destroying it. Tom took to the rooftops, discreetly sapping the heat from the fires and putting them out. Katara was taking care of the ball and chain welder and didn't see the archer take aim at her. Sokka was able to blind the archer with glare from the magnifying glass on his silly detective hat, causing his shot to miss. The archer took aim at Sokka next, but Tom drew his own bow and buried one of his arrows into the archer's shoulders. The enemy's shot went high, taking off Sokka's hat, but leaving him unharmed.

The hat, now alight, happened to hit a bag of explosives strapped to the rhino of the demolitionist. The soldier got it off with less than a second to spare, causing he and his rhino to be thrown through a nearby building. One of the demolitionist's bags also came lose, spilling its contents next to Sokka, including his… "Boomerang! You **do** always come back!"

With all of the other soldiers accounted for, all that was left to do was deal with the leader. By the time Tom had put out the remaining fires, Aang had already taken care of that.

That night, fireworks light up the sky as a new Avatar Day was celebrated for the first time. "From now on," the mayor happily announced, "we'll celebrate a new Avatar Day! In honor of the day Avatar Aang saved us from the 'Rough Rhino' invasion!"

"What is this?" Sokka asked, referring to the contents of the bowl in his hands.

"That's our new festival food," the mayor explained, "Un-fried dough. May we eat it, and remember how the Avatar was _not_ boiled in oil!"

"This is by far the worst town we've ever been to," Sokka complained. Still, he popped a handful of the new festival "food" all the same.

Politely declining after trying one, Katara turned to her friends. "So Aang, how did you know what happened between Avatar Kyoshi and Chin the Conquerer?"

Aang stuttered for a second, but Tom was quick to supply a plausible answer, "Avatar Kyoshi's spirit came to him and told him."

"Neat," Katara smiled, "I wish I could meet my past lives like that."

Aang whipped the sweat from his brow as he turned to Tom, "Nice save."

"Kind of like the Fire Nation showing up at the last minute?" Tom noted drolly.

"Yeah. I guess those Rough Rhinos weren't so bad after all." They both shared a laugh at that. Really, they'd have taken any excuse not to have to continue eating.

* * *

><p>Not nearly as bad as I had feared. It definitely doesn't do anything useful for me, but it's not exactly the embarrassing mess I was expecting. Who knows? Maybe I'm getting better. But you want to know a way I <em>know<em> I can get better? If the people who take the time to review my story give me a helpful critique that allows me to- ah, who am I kidding? Roll credits.


	30. A Wish to be Heard, part I

This may be last minute, but at least I have justification for splitting it up into two parts. Given the pacing of what I plan to write this, even if I had started this last week, I'd have split it up. Hopefully this will turn out well all the same.

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><p>After such an awful town, it was nice to wander by a town filled with sane people <em>not<em> pining for a centuries old despot. The town was bright, safe, and wealthy. The wealth of the town seemed the only impetus for conflict as Sokka agonized over whether or not to buy an expensive bag. Tom honestly couldn't care less.

On a more useful note, a crier on the street handed Aang an advertisement for the local earthbending school in town. With a "first lesson is free" coupon on the back and nothing better to do, Aang decided to try it out. Of course he and Katara were optimistic, maybe he was the earthbending teacher Aang was looking for.

About a half an hour after entering, Aang trudged out. "Ehh, he's not the one…" he sighed as he tried to shake the sand out of his ears. Just as they were ready to leave, Aang heard two of the earthbending students talking as they left the academy.

"I think the Boulder is going to win back the belt at Earth Rumble VI!"

"He's gotta fight his way through the best earthbenders in the world to even get a shot at the champ."

Aang ran off to catch up with them, leaving Tom to sigh, "And this has been 'plot convenience eavesdropping', ladies and gentlemen." Katara and Sokka gave him a questioning look, but decided to ignore it.

"Excuse me," Aang said to the two teens, "but where is this earthbending tournament exactly?"

"It's on the island of 'Noneoya'," one of the boys said, glancing back at Aang. After a pause for effect he continued, "None o' ya business!" The two turned away again, cackling like idiots as they turned a corner. And as much as the rudeness brought a frown to Aang's face, Sokka seemed to appreciate their humor.

Katara proved much more helpful, "I'll take care of this." She ran after the two boys, calling after them and disappeared around the corner.

"What was I thinking?" Sokka complained at his new bag, "I don't need a new bag! Why'd you let me buy this, Tom?" His only response was to roll his eyes.

Katara retuned quickly with a bright smile on her face, "Are you ready to find an earthbending teacher? Because we're headed to Earth Rumble VI!"

"How'd you get them to tell you?" Aang asked.

"Oh, a girl has her ways…" In this case, her "way" was violence, but it's hard to complain about results.

That night, Katara led the group to a cave in a nearby mountain. The cave was very regular and uniform, not surprising since it was made by earthbenders rather than nature. Inside was a massive arena with stadium seats built right into the rock around the rectangular battlefield. The battlefield itself was quite massive and raised several feet from a pit built around it. Aang led the others to some prime, but vacant seats.

"Hey, front row seats! I wonder why no one else is sitting here." The four sat down and soon got their answer as a giant boulder smashed the seats next to them. That was a pretty good explanation…

The rock had been thrown by the host of the event; a muscular man with long hair. As an intro to the event, he was showing off a display of his own earthbending prowess. "Welcome to Earth Rumble VI!" the man announced in an appropriately deep voice, "I am your host, Xin Fu!"

Katara sighed, unimpressed, "This is just going to be a bunch of guys chucking rocks at each other, isn't it?"

"That's what I paid for," Sokka returned happily.

"The rules here are simple:" Xin Fu continued, "just knock the other guy out of the ring and you win!" Xin Fu used his earthbending to launch himself to a platform above the ring. A second later, a bell let out a sharp "klang". "Round one! The Boulder vs. The Big, Bad Hippo!"

"The Boulder" was an extremely muscular man with what appeared to be a badger mole symbol tattooed on his back. His opponent had more the figure of a sumo wrestler; fat, but still strong and solid. "Listen up, Hippo," the Boulder began dramatically, "You may be big, but you're not bad! The Boulder, is going to win this… in a landslide!"

"Hippo… Mad!"

The fight itself, even if it did entertain Sokka, seemed rather meaningless. Both sides were relying on brute strength alone. Any technique or skill was only used to summon rocks to throw at each other. Ultimately, the Boulder was able to lift the arena under the massive Hippo and throw his opponent from the ring. The crowd went wild.

"Ugh. This is as bad as that WWE garbage my half-brother watches…" Tom complained.

"What's WWE?" Katara asked.

"Male soap operas…" Tom replied unhelpfully.

Katara ignored his comment and turned to Aang. "What do you think about the Boulder, Aang? Could he be the teacher you're looking for?"

"I don't know…" the airbender said skeptically, "Bumi said I need a teacher who listens to the earth. He's just listening to his big muscles."

"Next match:" Xin Fu declared as an overweight man in a red outfit and carrying a red flag stepped into the arena, "The Boulder vs. Fire Nation Man!"

"And here's the intentionally unpopular one…" Tom grumbled.

"Please to rise… for Fire Nation national anthem!"

"Okay, that was one thing I never understood," Tom said (mostly to himself), "Why is 'Fire Nation Man' a Russian dude?"

The "competitor" was quickly dispatched by the Boulder, to riotous cheers from the crowd and especially Sokka. "Woohoo! The Boulder knows how to put the hurt in the dirt!"

"You know this is fixed, right Sokka?" Tom's comment didn't even reach his friend's ears.

That continued for a few more opponents. None of them really lived up to "the best earthbenders in the world", but their theatrics entertained the crowd enough that only Aang, Katara, and Tom bothered to notice. The event lasted for a few hours and was winding down as Xin Fu made another announcement. "Now, the moment you've all been waiting for. The Boulder vs., your champion, The Blind Bandit!"

Unlike all the other goofy characters that had plodded across the ring, this earthbender carried an air of true power. Her skills weren't just for show. She also appeared to be not only Aang's size, but age. And judging from the dull color of her eyes, she really was blind.

"She can't really be blind…" Katara said, "It's just part of her character, right?"

"I think she is…"

"I think she is goin' down!" Sokka interrupted.

Tom smiled knowingly, "She may not have her eyes, but there is more than one kind of sight."

"The Boulder feels conflicted about fighting a young blind girl."

"Sounds to me like you're scared, Boulder!" Unlike everyone else that night, her taunts sounded real. Unscripted. Anyone paying attention could see the difference between the two like night and day.

"The Boulder is over his conflicted feelings and is ready to burry you… in a rock-a-lanche!"

"Whenever you're ready, 'the Pebble'!" The Blind Bandit let out a confident laugh. Tom glanced over and saw the look of recognition on Aang's face.

"It's on!" the Boulder announced. In spite of the bravado, he was visibly sweeting, while the Blind Bandit simply waited calmly. The Boulder took a step forward and the Blind Bandit took a simple stance. By the Boulder's second step, a flick of the Blind Bandit's heel sent a wave of loose rock toward him. The moving gravel dragged his heel away until he was left doing the splits involuntarily. A flick of the girl's wrist and three pillars of stone sent the Boulder face first into the wall of the pit.

"Your winner, and still the champion, the Blind Bandit!"

"How did she do that?" Katara gasped.

"She waited… and listened!" Aang said with a smile.

"To make things a little more interesting, I'm offering up this sack of gold pieces to anyone who can defeat the Blind Bandit!" Xin Fu announced.

"I'll fight!" Tom called right away. He made the short leap from the end of the stands to the ring and stepped toward the small, but powerful girl. "I'm not an earthbender myself, but I know my way around a fight." Xin Fu raised an eyebrow, but left the ring all the same.

The Blind Bandit laughed at her newest challenger, "You're a real hotshot stepping into the ring without any bending! You got a slingshot or something to throw rocks at me? Or are you going to do it bare handed?"

Tom smiled, "I'm bigger than you. I'll just throw you out of the ring. Too bad I forgot my slingshot, or I'd use that. I think you're just barely tall enough for that ride!"

The Blind Bandit's eye twitched, but she laughed again, "This is going to be even easier than I thought! Fighting's about more than brute strength, you know."

Tom smiled wider in return and fell into a fighting stance, "Well, I guess it's a good thing I'm a better fighter than you."

The Blind Bandit's unseeing eyes widened at that comment. Her face scrunched in anger and she fell into a stance of her own, "Oh, it is _so_ on now, buddy!"

Tom watched his opponent's feet. The instant they moved, he moved. He could feel the ground rumble underneath him as he rolled away from the attack the Blind Bandit had sent against him. A second after he recovered, pillars of stone converged on where his chest had been only a second ago.

"Too slow," Tom mocked. "I thought little fighters were supposed to be fast!"

The Blind Bandit growled, "Little?! Slow!? I'll show you!" The Blind Bandit summoned pillars of rock, boulders and even fissures in the stage itself to try to trap Tom. By watching her, though, he was able to stay ahead of the deathtraps. "You want fast?! I'll give you fast!" the young girl roared as her barrage continued, "'Fast' is how you'll go flying out of the ring! 'Fast' is how your head is going to come off your shoulders!"

Tom recovered from another roll and gave a cocky laugh, "Don't lose _your_ head. Why don't you and I set a little personal wager?"

"What kind of wager?" the Blind Bandit asked, still seething but intrigued.

"I confess I didn't challenge you for the pure sport of it," Tom admitted, still ready to dodge a sneak attack from his shifty opponent. "My friend needs to talk to you about something. If I win, you have to hear us out."

The Blind Bandit smiled devilishly, "Fine," she returned, "But _when_ I win, you have to come to my next match at the arena and be one of my cheerleaders. Dress. And. All!"

"High stakes. Very well, I accept." He had barely gotten that out by the time the rocks had started flying again. Still, he was able to stay one step ahead and dive out of the way. "You're still too slow to hit me though."

As much as he seemed in control of the fight, Tom knew he was fighting a losing battle. He couldn't firebend here, of course, so he had to get into arm's reach to do anything aggressive. The way things stood, he could only avoid the rocks the Blind Bandit sent his way. And that would only last so long. Eventually either he'd slow down or she'd get lucky (or probably both). The problem was that she had 360 vision. There was no blind spot to exploit. Even if he could find a way to get behind her, she'd just keep throwing rocks at him. He couldn't think of anything that would get him any closer. After dodging another flying boulder, Tom was stopped dead by a massive wall of rock ahead of him. Before he had the chance to react, a pillar of rock shot out of the wall, smacking him in the chest. He rolled when he landed to get up quicker, but he hadn't even fully lifted himself up by the time another pillar rose up from below him and smacked him in the chin. Tom landed hard on his back, not getting up right away, just staring at the ceiling.

"How's that for fast, bigmouth?" the Blind Bandit scoffed.

She has 360 vision, Tom though, but only in two dimensions. She can block and dodge airborne attacks, but only when the attacker is connected to the ground. She must be a master of geometry, but that _has_ to slow down her reaction time.

Tom lied there for a few seconds, staring up at the glowing crystals above him. An idea came to him and he smiled. Just as the crowd was about to accept the loss of their challenger, Tom hopped back up on his feet.

"Better," he said, rubbing his chin a little, "But I barely even felt that. You hit like a little girl. Oops."

The Blind Bandit's rage returned, and then some. "You asked for it!" With one motion, she called out what looked like a small mountain and sent it barreling toward Tom along the ground. Tom waited for it to get close to him and then jumped. He vaulted up the mass of rocks, kicking off it as it fell off the ring and into the pit. Tom reached for the lowest hanging crystal, but felt his forward motion stop close, but too short to even touch it. Praying no one would notice, Tom let a blast of heat loose from his palms and feet, careful not it ignite it, but strong enough to propel him just a little bit higher. He grabbed one of the crystals with an outstretched hand and pulled himself into the structure. "Where did he…?" Tom kicked off the natural chandelier just as the Blind Bandit's attention turned upward. She started to summon a burrier of rocks around her, but Tom landed on her too fast, pinning her to the ground by her shoulders. The flying tackle was enough to knock the wind out of her long enough for Tom to get back up. He picked her up by the arm, and swung her toward the edge of the ring. The Blind Bandit landed inside the ring, but the momentum of the throw carried her out and into the pit.

The crowd cheered at the result, but Tom didn't move other than to take in ragged gasps. A second later he fell to his knees, gasping desperately. Not exactly the most glorious victory, but Earth Rumble VI had just crowned a new champion. And he wasn't even an earthbender!

* * *

><p>There we go. I think I made this into what I wanted. Again, I have to have Tom do things for this story to have meaning and I think I did that here. I'm hoping I made Tom's win plausible. I mean, he is an extraordinary young man, but he can't be invincible. I think this does a good job of making his win look appropriately miraculous. (And since I seem to be getting more and more real critiques, someone will probably let me know if it didn't. Can't get better if I don't know what to improve!)<p>

Even if I did have more time (which I really, _really_ don't) I'd have probably stopped here anyway. This is a good place to stop and the next chapter will be up by next Friday. Well, hopefully I'll see you then!


	31. A Wish to be Heard, part II

I think the reason I always have such trouble with procrastination is that starting intimidates me. So you know what I'm going to do? Imma just start. I know where I want to go with this chapter and where I want it to do, so I'll just get the hard part over with. Yup. Any minute now. …

…

…

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><p>Tom sat in the middle of the ring for almost a full minute, gasping for breath. The crowd was cheering its collective head off and the powers that be were too stunned to do anything other than stare blankly in the general direction of the arena. After Tom picked himself up, he trudged toward the stairs to the pit that the Blind Bandit had fallen into.<p>

She was grumbling as she picked herself up and dusted herself off. When she sensed Tom coming she glared in his direction. "No way you're not a bender. How'd you do that?"

"I said I wasn't an _earth_bender," Tom replied confidently, though his voice was dry from all the gasping. "Unfortunately, I can't exactly show off my powers with this crowd."

Realization washed over the Blind Bandit's face, "You're a-?" She stopped herself and stepped closer so that no one could overhear them. "So you really are a 'hotshot', aren't you? So what's a bender of your… persuasion doing at Earth Rumble VI?"

"That's actually what to talk to you about," Tom said, gesturing to another person the Blind Bandit hadn't noticed. "My friend Aang here is the Avatar, and-"

Suddenly, the Blind Bandit noticed someone else and had to suppress the urge to jump. "Wha-? Feels like someone's a little light on his feet," she said to Aang, who had just touched down, "When did you get here, 'Twinkletoes'?"

"Well, I-"

"You know what, I don't even care. What is it that you want?"

"Well, you see," Aang started, "a crazy king told me I had to find an earthbender that listens to the earth, and then I had a vision in a magic swamp and…" Aang noticed Tom facepalming, and looked at the expression on the blind girl's face. It wasn't exactly bursting with confidence or understanding. "Er, I mean, I'm the Avatar. I've been looking for someone to teach me earthbending and I think it's supposed to be you."

"Oh," the Blind Bandit scoffed, "is that so?"

"We need your help," Tom implored, "The world needs your help. Don't you think that's a more glorious endeavor than the champion of a local fighting ring?"

The Blind Bandit scoffed, "What, you think you can impress me with big words? My _affluence_ has given me an above average education. Besides, I'm not the champion any more am I?" She opened up a hole in the outer wall of the pit and started toward it. She glanced over her shoulder at Tom, "You are now, Hotshot. But we're not finished yet, so don't get used to it."

She stepped through the door she made, and Aang tried to stop her, "Please, you have to listen to us…"

"I did. The bet was that I had to hear you out if I lost and I already heard what you had to say. That doesn't mean I have to teach anybody anything. Now buzz off."

"But…" Too late. The Blind Bandit had already shut the door she had made in the wall and was unreachable.

There was a noticeable pause as the two just stood there, staring at a solid stone wall. "I don't use big words that often, do I?" Tom asked.

Aang wasn't really in the mood to consider it at the moment. With the Blind Bandit gone Aang was still without a teacher, but on a brighter note, at least the Earth Rumble champion belt matched Sokka's bag!

Aang was convinced that the Blind Bandit was the girl he saw in his vision in the swamp. She was defiantly the one he was looking for. They had to track her down, deciding that the Earthbending Academy was a good a place as any to start looking for her.

There they found the unhelpful boys from the day before that Katara had "persuaded" to give the location of Earth Rumble VI. Unfortunately, they didn't know anything about the Blind Bandit. No one at the arena did in fact. She apparently only showed up to fight, disappearing before anyone could talk to her. So Aang took a different approach.

"We're asking about the wrong person…" he decided, "In my vision I saw a girl in a white dress with a pet flying boar. Know anyone like that?"

"Well, a flying boar is the symbol of the Bei Fong family," one of the boys supplied. "They're the richest people in town. Probably the world!"

"But they don't have a daughter," the other corrected.

"A flying boar is good enough for me!" Aang said. He was already headed out the door when the two earthbending students sneered at the departing group.

"Yeah," one of the teens said, "you'd better leave…"

Katara looked over her shoulder at that, "I've got my eye on you."

The Bei Fong family had an estate just at the edge of town. The massive, well guarded facility was adorned with a carving of a stylized flying boar over the main entrance. "That's the flying boar from my vision!" Aang confirmed.

The group snuck in over an outer wall and made their way through the garden. But before they could find the person they were searching for, she found them. The ground beneath them exploded upward, catapulting them into the open. The four of them landed tight in front of the Blind Bandit, though this time she was dressed much nicer. "What are you doing here, Twinkletoes?" she asked Aang crossly.

"How did you know it was me?" Aang replied.

"Don't answer to Twinkletoes," Sokka scolded Aang, "It's not manly."

Katara scoffed at his comment, "You're the one who's bag matches his belt."

"I think we may be getting a bit off topic…" Tom noted as he and the others got up.

"Let's start with how you found me," the young Bei Fong said.

"I saw a flying boar in my vision, so we asked around town and heard about this place."

"Right…" the girl said, "You might want to see a doctor about those visions. I'm pretty sure there's an herbal remedy for that sort of thing."

"What he means is that as the Avatar, he has to master earthbending," Katara explained, "If he doesn't do it soon, he won't be able to defeat the Fire Lord."

"Not my problem," the girl said, gesturing Katara away rudely. "Now get out of here. Or I'll call the guards."

"Look, we all have to do our part to win this war," Sokka implored, "And yours is to teach Aang earthbending."

"Guards! Guards!"

With the girl making good on her promise, Aang and the others had to escape over the wall they had climbed to enter. They made it out with just a few seconds to spare as two earthbending soldiers arrived at the girl's side. While that hadn't exactly gone as planned at least they finally learned the Blind Bandit's real name from the guards; Toph. It was especially helpful for Tom since now he didn't have to consciously avoid using her name.

"Don't worry, guys," Aang said confidently after they moved away from the wall, "I've got a plan. First I'll make a giant tornado on the other side of the wall that'll distract all the guards, and then-"

"Why not just walk in the front door?" Tom suggested, "You're the Avatar, her parents'll probably be happy to meet you. And then maybe Sokka can eat _them_ out of house and home instead of us."

"Hey!"

Indeed, the patriarch of the Bei Fong family was glad to have the Avatar and his companions at his home. Aang even impressed the Bei Fongs and Master Yu who had been meeting with the Bei Fongs at the time with his airbending, cooling Toph's soup.

"So, in your opinion, how much longer do you think the war will last," Toph's father asked.

"I'd like to defeat the Fire Lord by the end of summer," Aang started, "But I can't do that without an earthbending teacher first."

Toph sensed Aang's gaze turn to her, responding only with a subtle glare.

"Well, Master Yu is the finest earthbending teacher in the land. Why, he's been teaching Toph since she was little."

"Then she must be a great earthbender!" Aang said enthusiastically, "Probably good enough to teach someone else!"

In response, Toph sent a tremor through the ground, causing the chairs of both Aang and Tom to jump uncomfortably. The whole time she continued to demurely eat her supper like nothing was wrong.

"What did I do…?" Tom grumbled under his breath. He noticed she was about to take a taste of her soup, so he concentrated on the liquid in the ceramic spoon. He got it to a boil just as the soup reached her tongue. Needless to say, she jumped at the unexpected discomfort. "Still too hot for you, little girl?" Tom mumbled just loud enough for Toph to hear. Toph's glare back was much less subtle than before, but her father still missed the entire exchange.

"Toph is still learning the basics," Master Yu answered Aang's previous comment.

"Yes," her father said sadly, "And due to her blindness, I don't think she will ever be a true master."

"Oh, I'm sure she's better than you think-" Aang was cut off when his chair leached forward, causing him to faceplant into his soup. Toph's father looked over at his daughter, who was still acting like the well behaved child he knew, though for some reason her soup was left untouched. After a second, an idea came to Aang. A second later, he sneezed, causing the contents of the table across from him to get thrown toward the wall. This caused Toph to be pelted with her own food, though unfortunately, her mother and Master Yu were also caught in the crossfire.

"What's your problem?!" Toph demanded.

"What's _your_ problem?!" Aang shot back.

There was an awkward pause until Toph's mother spoke up. "Shall we move to the living room for desert then?"

The rest of the night went without incident. With the late hour the Bei Fongs insisted the Avatar and his friends stay in their guest room for the night. Aang gladly accepted. Just as the group was getting ready for bed, Toph appeared in the doorway, putting Aang and Tom on edge.

"Relax," she said, leaning on the door frame. "Look, I'm sorry about dinner. Let's call a truce, okay?" Toph wanted to explain herself, why she was the Blind Bandit, and everything, so she decided to give Aang and Tom a tour of the garden while they talked. "Even though I was born blind, I've never had a problem seeing. I see with earthbending. It's kind of like seeing with my feet. I feel the vibrations in the earth and I can 'see' where everything is. Like both of you, that tree, even those ants."

"That's amazing!" Aang complimented.

"My parents don't understand," she lamented all the same. "They've always treated me like I was helpless."

"That's why you became the Blind Bandit," Tom guessed, "Even if your parents never see it, it's a way to prove how powerful you are." Toph nodded sadly. "Well that's something, right?"

"What do you mean?"

"Do you really think you would have gotten to be such a good earthbender if you could see and you lived a normal life until now?" Tom asked.

"I guess not…"

"And besides, you have 360 vision. Do you know how many people would kill for that?"

"It does sound pretty nice when you put it that way," Toph smiled, "Thanks. Now if only my parents could figure that out…"

"If you're so unhappy here, why stay?" Aang asked.

"They're my parents," Toph emphasized, "Where else am I supposed to go?"

"You could come with us?" Aang suggested.

"Yeah, you guys get to go wherever you want. No one telling you what to do. That's the life." Toph sighed sadly, "It's just not my life." Suddenly her head snapped around. She put a hand to the ground to confirm, "We're being ambushed!" She grabbed Aang by the wrist and ran off, Tom right behind. Suddenly, one of the Earth Rumble earthbenders shot out of the ground before them. All three readied for a fight, but two cages slammed down on them from above. It was quite uncomfortable for Tom and Aang in particular since they had to share a cage.

"I think you kids owe me some money…" Xin Fu grinned as the cages were dragged off. The cages were brought to the arena and strung up. Only about a minute had passed before Toph started her smacktalking, much to Xin Fu's irritation. "Will you just shut up already?! I know what you little brats did!"

"You think Toph took a dive, don't you?" Tom asked.

"Of course she did! How else could you have beaten her without any earthbending?"

"You really want to know?" Tom asked. He motioned for Aang to back up as far as the cage would allow. Tom summoned his barrier around his hand full force and slammed it into the front of the cage with all he had. The low quality of the metal gave almost instantly, warping out an inch and a half and turning bright red. "It's good to be back at full strength…" Tom only needed one punch to get the rest of the way through the cage. Careful to use his barrier to block the radiant heat, Tom pulled the cage open and jumped the rest of the way down to the ground.

The earthbenders just stood there in shock for a moment, giving Aang enough time to also exit the cage. Xin Fu snapped out of his trance and roared, "He's a firebender! Get him!"

"Hippo will-!" The Hippo was suddenly stopped mid-sentence by a fiery mass slammed into him. The fire dissipated, reveling that it was Tom's elbow that had slammed into the gargantuan man's chest.

The Hippo stumbled a bit as Tom landed with a cocky grin. "Sorry. You were so wide open, I couldn't help myself. By the way, you're not related to anyone named Reacoom, are you?" With a nonchalant tap of Tom's finger, the Hippo fell with a colossal thud.

The real fight was about to begin when Sokka spoke up from the edge of the arena. "Here's your money!" he dropped the bag of gold that Tom had won from Earth Rumble VI. Master Yu earthbent the sack over to Xin Fu who inspected it and found everything to be in order. He motioned for Toph's cage to be lowered and she ran to her father.

The other earthbenders were still surrounding Aang and Tom, however. "What about them?" Katara motioned to her friends.

"I have a strict no firebender policy, and your friend has to pay the penalty for that," Xin Fu more warned than explained, "And as for the Avatar," he unfurled a wanted poster for Aang, "I think the Fire Nation will have something for me in exchange for him. Now get out of my ring!"

"Well, what do we do now?" Aang asked, ready to block the inevitable attack.

Tom just shrugged, "We can take 'em. …Though a little help from Toph would be nice."

Right on cue, a dome of rock formed over the two and moved out from the circle of earthbenders. A second later and the dome was gone and Tom and Aang were next to their friends. "Leave my friends alone!" Toph demanded, "I beat you all before and I'll do it again!"

"The Boulder takes issue with that comment!"

The earthbenders began a charge, and Tom, Aang, Katara, and Sokka moved to meet them, but Toph stopped them. "They're mine!" There wasn't much of a fight, though it was impressive to watch. Even Xin Fu, who turned out to be quite skilled was helpless against Toph, the Blind Bandit. Each of them were soundly defeated one by one, leaving everyone could leave the arena undamaged. Tom even got to keep his winnings after all!

They returned to the Bei Fong estate. Toph had a lot of explaining to do to her parents. "Dad, I know it's probably hard for you to see me this way. But the obedient little helpless blind girl you think I am just isn't me. I love fighting. I love being an earthbender! And I'm really, really good at it. I know I've kept my life secret from you, but you were keeping me secret from the whole world. You were doing it to protect me. But I'm twelve years old and I've never had a real friend. So now that you see who I am, I hope it doesn't change the way you feel about me."

"Of course it doesn't change the way I feel about you, Toph. And it's made me realize something."

"It has?" Toph asked hopefully.

"Yes, I've let you have far too much freedom. From now on you will be cared for and guarded twenty-four hours a day!"

"But Dad-!"

"We're doing this for your own good, Toph," her mother said.

"Please escort the Avatar and his friends out," her father said to one of the butlers, "They are no longer welcome here."

"I'm sorry Toph," Aang said as they were led out.

"I'm sorry too. Goodbye, Aang."

Appa was packed up and the group readied to leave. Still, there was an air of gloom as they looked back at the Bei Fong estate. "Tom, why didn't you say anything?" Katara asked Tom quietly. They were both tying down Appa's saddle and Katara didn't want to remind Aang of the earthbending teacher that should have been. "Normally you can't be held back from commenting on something like what happened to poor Toph."

"Call it intuition," he replied.

"Intuition?"

Right on time, Toph crested the hill in her fighting clothes, pack slung over her shoulder. "Wait up!"

"Toph," Aang asked happily, "what are you doing here?"

"My dad changed his mind," she explained, "He said I was free to travel the world."

"Well, we'd better get out of here," Sokka said happily, "Before your dad changes his mind again."

"Good idea, but before we go, could you come down here Tom?"

"Sure." By the time he had realized his mistake, it was already too late. The instant Tom's foot touched the ground he was shot into a tree by a pillar of rock. "I really should have seen that coming…" he grumbled angrily.

"Probably. I'll take the belt back now." Sokka begrudgingly acquiesced, though he forgot about Toph's blindness and tossed it to her. The heavy belt was enough to knock the small girl over when it hit her in the head. "Ow!"

Not exactly the most glorious victory, but at least the Earth Rumble champion was an earthbender again. And more importantly, they had finally found Aang an earthbending teacher. And a new friend.

* * *

><p>I am <em>so<em> glad I started this ahead. I think this is pretty darn good. As such, I don't really have much to say about it. Hope it's as good as I think. And hope if it's not someone will point it out. 'Till next time.


	32. A Wish for Rest

So yeah, this should be my adaptation of 207, "Zuko Alone", but there are two problems with that. First, being that it's from Zuko's perspective and Aang and company are never seen, it would be hard to work with it in the style I've fallen into. And that might not be that big a problem as that's supposed to be a special case, but two is Tom's presence wouldn't do anything to change the proceedings of that episode. I really can't justify bringing my story to a grinding halt for something not relevant to my adaptation. I was planning on trying to do _something_ with 207, but there's really nothing for me to do. That's why I've decided to skip it. Besides, it'll be hard enough to deal with that plot black hole of an episode in season three about Roku and Sozin.

So in any event, this is going to skip 207 and go right into 208, "The Chase". Hopefully this won't piss anyone off. I hate that it's taken me this long to get it started, but hey, sky is blue.

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><p>One day of flying had passed and the group began setting their first camp since the group expanded. Everyone pretty much kept their same jobs as Toph simply unloaded her own belongings and sat off to the side. Katara tried to get her to help with camp a few times, but Toph just brushed her off.<p>

It was only an hour or two before Toph emerged from her self-made stone tent. "There's something coming toward us!" Tom hadn't even gotten to sleep at that point.

The others groggily woke up and looked to Toph, who had a hand to the ground. "What is it?" Aang asked.

"It feels like an avalanche," Toph noted, "…But also not an avalanche."

"Your powers of perception are frightening," Sokka grumbled irritably.

"Should we leave?" Katara asked.

"Better safe than sorry."

The group packed up camp as quickly as they could and took off. As they gained altitude they caught sight of the thing that was approaching. At first all they could see was a cloud of smoke, giving away its mechanized nature. As the treetops fell away, they got a better look at it. It looked very much like a train, though with caterpillar treads rather than moving on a track. It was also quite intimidating covered in threatening spikes.

As Appa continued onward, the group got more and more exhausted. Well, most of them. Tom didn't really feel that bad as the night progressed. He was used to staying up late. And though his adventures had forced him into a more normal sleep schedule, his nature as a night owl helped him brush off the late night.

The group traveled a few more miles in relative silence until they found another campsite. Toph leapt off the saddle gratefully the instant Appa touched down. "Land, sweet land," she sighed, hugging the earth through which she could finally see. She hopped up a second later, "See you guys in the morning."

"Actually, could you help us unload?" Katara asked as the earthbender strode away.

"Really?" Toph questioned, "You need my help to unload Sokka's funky-smelling sleeping bag?"

"Well, yes. That and everything else. You're a part of our team now, and-"

"Look, I didn't ask you to unload any of my stuff," Toph countered harshly. "I'm carrying my own weight."

"That's not the point," Katara shot back, quickly losing her temper. "Ever since you joined us you've been nothing but selfish and unhelpful."

"What?!" Toph gasped. "Look here, Sugar Queen," she growled back, pointing an accusatory finger at Katara, "I gave up everything I had to teach Aang earthbending. So don't you talk to me about being selfish!" With that, she sat down hard, forming another tent for herself out of stone.

"Sugar Queen?!" Toph blocked the front and back of the tent with more stone, causing Katara to jump. "D-did you just slam the door in my face?! How can you be so infuriating?!" Katara started pounding on the sealed stone tent, though needless to say, it did nothing.

"Should we do something…?" Aang asked as he, Sokka, Tom, and Momo looked on at the silly display.

"I'm just enjoying the show," Sokka said calmly.

"Ditto," Tom agreed.

Aang tried to calm the situation, to no avail. The group tried to turn in, but Katara and Toph wouldn't let the argument die. "The stars sure are beautiful tonight," Katara mocked loud enough for Toph to hear, "Too bad you can't see them, Toph!" Toph responded with an earthquake that shot Katara about a foot in the air, causing her to land on Sokka.

"Hey, how's a guy supposed to sleep with all this yelling and earthquakeing?!" Sokka complained.

Instead of a response, Toph poked out of her tent and placed a hand on the ground, "That thing is back!"

"Well, how far is it?" Sokka more complained than asked. "Maybe we can close our eyes for just a few minutes…"

Aang, Katara, and Tom looked up over the treetops to see an approaching column of smoke. "I don't think so, Sokka."

The group hastily packed up again and took off, thankfully leaving the metal vehicle behind.

"Seriously, what is that thing?"

"And how does it keep finding us?"

"I don't know," Aang said as he took the reins, "but this time I'm going to make sure we lose them."

Aang made a point of crossing every river, ravine, and mountain he could see to try to waylay their pursuers. They finally landed on the side of a mountain, having traveled about another half-day's worth of distance in their escape. Appa, who had put in more than his fair share of the work, just flopped down on a flat area of rocks and rolled onto his side. Nobody minded being tossed from the saddle as they all wanted to get off and get some rest as quickly as possible, save Tom.

"Forget setting up camp," Sokka grumbled, "I'm finding the softest pile of dirt and going to sleep."

"That's good," Katara said at Toph accusingly, "Toph wasn't going to help anyway."

"Oh, I didn't know baby still needed someone to tuck her in bed."

"Don't start now," Tom grumbled, watching the horizon for the smoke cloud. "We've got the missing train from the circus of death following us, we don't need infighting too."

"Who do you think is chasing us," Aang asked, "I've never seen a tank like that one before."

"It could be Zuko," Katara suggested, "We haven't seen him since the North Pole."

"Who's Zuko," the new member of the group asked.

"Oh, just some angry freak with a ponytail who's tracked us all over the world," Sokka explained.

Katara gave her brother a questioning grin, "What's wrong with ponytails, Ponytail?"

"This," he pointed to his hair, "is a Warrior's Wolftail."

"Well, it certainly shows the other warriors that you're fun and perky!"

"I don't think Zuko has the resources for something like that," Tom noted, "But I'm starting to think whoever it is is related."

"What do you- oh, no," Sokka grumbled as he got up out of his sleeping bag, "Don't tell me."

He and the others looked out into the valley below only to see the approaching column of smoke. "That's impossible," Aang complained, "There's no way they could have followed us."

"I can feel it with my own two feet," Toph said.

The group watched as the train tank thing climbed the steep mountain that they had hid on like it was nothing. It rapidly approached their plateau with no signs of slowing down.

"Let's get out of here," Katara suggested.

"Maybe we should face them. Find out who they are," Aang said hopefully, "Maybe their friendly."

"Always the optimist…" Sokka groaned

"Friendly people in a vehicle that can kill you three ways before running you over?" Tom scoffed, "That's not optimism, that's denial."

One of the cars on the train tank opened up to reveal the three girls from Omashu riding strange gecko-looking things. So much for optimism… The girls charged as everyone got into a fighting stance.

"We can take 'em," Toph declared, "We've got them outnumbered four to three!"

"Actually, Toph, there's five of us," Sokka corrected.

"Oh, sorry. I didn't count you. No bending and all…"

"I can still fight!"

"Okay, three against four plus Sokka."

"AARRGH!"

Toph and Tom were the only ones who got an attack off. Tom chucked a couple of flames at the approaching trio and Toph used her earthbending to try to stop the lizard they were riding. The nimble mounts just skittered around both attacks like they were nothing.

"Well, we wanted to find out who they were and now we do, let's get out of here!" Sokka said in one breath as the group retreated to Appa. Toph made a wall to try to block the lizards' advance, but Azula blasted through the wall with a blast of lightning.

"I've got to learn that one," Tom said as Appa started to take off.

The group tried to recover as Appa flew on, but the exhaustion was getting to them. Even though Tom was fine with late nights, even he had to start using little tricks to stay fully alert. "I can't believe those girls followed us all the way from Omashu…" Katara breathed.

"Well, one of them _is_ Zuko's sister," Aang noted.

"I still think we could have taken them…" Toph complained.

"Are you kidding? The crazy blue firebending and the flying daggers is bad enough," Katara started, "but the last time we saw those girls, one of them did something that took my bending away. That's scary!"

"Oh no, the sun is rising!" Sokka complained as light flooded the sky. "We've been up all night without sleep!

"Sokka, we'll be okay," Aang assured

"Are you sure?! I've never not slept before! What if I fall asleep right now and something happens?! And something **always** happens!"

"Adrenalin will keep you up for as long as you need," Tom said calmly. "As long as we settle this before a few nights pass, we'll be fine."

"How come you seem fine, Tom?" Katara asked the relatively speaking bright eyed firebender.

"I'm an insomniac. Why do you think it's so hard to get me up in the morning?"

"So what's our plan?" Aang asked blearily.

"Don't know," Toph mumbled, "Too tired to think."

"I'm sure we'll all feel better after a quick nap," Katara agreed.

"I don't think that's a good ide-" Tom's comment was cut off when Appa started dropping out of the sky.

"What's going on?!" Toph cried, barely holding on to the saddle.

"Appa fell asleep!" Aang called back. Appa dropped under the canopy of the trees before he awoke and caught himself. He tried to regain altitude, but the best the poor sky bison could manage was a safeish crash landing. The instant Appa hit the ground, he was snoring. The others slid off one by one. "Appa's exhausted…"

"Okay," Sokka sighed, "We've put a lot of distance between us and them. The plan right now is to follow Appa's lead and get some sleep."

"Of course we could have gotten some sleep earlier if Toph didn't have such issues…" Katara mumbled loudly enough to be heard.

"WHAT?!"

"Alright, alright!" Aang said, getting in between the girls, "Everyone's exhausted. Let's just get some rest."

"No," Toph growled, "I want to hear what Katara has to say! You think I have issues?"

"I'm just saying, maybe if you helped out earlier we could have set up camp faster and gotten some sleep. And then maybe we wouldn't be in this situation!"

"You're blaming me for this?!"

"No, no! She's not blaming you!" Aang assured.

"No, I'm blaming her!"

Toph shoved Aang out of the way so that the argument could continue. "I didn't ask you for diddly doda! I carry my own weight. Besides, if anyone's to blame, it's sheddy over here!"

"What?" Aang gasped, "You're blaming Appa?!"

"Yeah! You want to know how they keep finding us? He's leaving a trail everywhere we go!" To prove her point, Toph pulled a handful of fur and let the wind carry it away. Her theory wasn't good enough for Aang, though.

"How dare you blame Appa! He's saved your life three times today!" Now baited into the fight himself, Aang approached Toph, "If there's anyone to blame it's you! You're always talking about how you carry your own weight. But you're not! He is! Appa never had a problem flying when it was just the four of us!"

Toph stomped over to her pack, picked it off and started away. "I'm out of here…"

"Enough, all of you," Tom spoke up. "The only reason you're all at each other's throats is because you're tired."

"I don't care."

"Toph, come back."

"Make me."

Sokka tried to stand in her way, but he was slid aside with some earthbending and Toph continued away out of sight. It took a few minutes, but eventually what had just happened dawned on Aang and Katara.

"What did I just do?!" Aang lamented, "I can't believe I yelled at my earthbending teacher. Now she's gone…"

Katara shared in the self-pity. "We were all just trying to get used to each other. And I was so mean to her."

"Yeah, you two were pretty much jerks," Sokka agreed.

"Thanks, Sokka…" Katara shot back sarcastically.

"No problem."

Ignoring her difficult brother, Katara gave the slumping Aang a hand up. "We need to find her and apologize."

"Okay, but what about the tank full of dangerous ladies chasing us?" Sokka asked.

Aang grabbed a clump of Appa shed and watched it float away in the wind. "I have a plan."

Aang realized Toph was right about Appa's shed fur being how Azula and her cohorts were able to track them. They bathed Appa to get all the shedding fur out all at once so there would be no more trail to fallow. Aang then grabbed as much dry shed as he could get and put it in a bag.

"I'm going to use Appa's fur to make a fake trail and lead the tank off course," Aang explained.

"I think I'm going to follow you, Aang," Tom said before the airbender took off.

"On foot?"

"If something happens, I'll be right behind to back you up."

The group agreed on a rondevu point and split up. It was easy for Tom to follow Aang, but that was the point. He had to keep reminding his rapidly tiring brain to keep an ear out for Azula's lizard thing, lest she get the drop on him. He heard it skittering through the woods and was able to hide from it and let her pass him. He almost completely forgot about Zuko though, and only thought to get out of the way because his Ostrich Hoarse was so loud.

Tom caught sight of the ghost town where the trail ended and made his way to the center of it. Azula, Zuko, and Aang were already squared off when Tom made his presence known, "Excuse me. Is this a privet dance, or can anyone cut in?"

"Well, well, well," Azula smiled, stealing a quick glance away from Zuko and Aang to confirm Tom's identity, "If it isn't my knightly friend."

"Figures you two know each other," Zuko scoffed.

"Oh, I don't know him nearly well enough, yet," she admitted. "But I do know the perfect way to change that." Azula shot a quick attack at Tom before turning to the others.

The three way fight was on, the ghost town looking like it was erupting with three powerful firebenders going all out. Poor Aang was the only one who didn't want a part of it. Unfortunately, Azula got between him and his staff so he couldn't fly away. With Tom and Zuko occupying each other, Aang only had Azula to flee from. When Zuko noticed his target getting away, he broke from Tom and chased after Aang and Azula into a ruined building. Tom followed as well, the only firebender who didn't fall through the missing second floor. Azula rectified that by blasting the ledge he was on apart. Tom landed between the two of them. The three exchange a few quick blows before Azula kicked out a powerful enough flame to blast both boys out the window and into the street.

Tom picked himself up quickly and was happy to see Sokka and Katara helping Aang to surround Azula. The edges of Tom's vision was starting to blur and he didn't know how much longer he could keep up with Azula. She seemed confident enough until a sneak attack from Toph knocked her over.

"I thought you guys could use a little help," Toph said confidently.

"Thanks," Katara returned.

Azula used the little moment to get up and make her escape, but Iroh cut her off. She found herself completely surrounded. "Well, look at this," she said snidely, "Enemies and traitors, all working together. I'm done. I know when I'm beaten," Azula raised her hands in surrender, "A princess surrenders with honor." Tom knew what would happen next, but his sleepless brain and body were too slow to do anything about it. Iroh let his guard down and Azula used the opening to blast him with a fireball. Everyone still standing attacked in return, but she just used the explosion that caused to flee.

Katara tried to offer her help, but Zuko demanded they leave, throwing a halfhearted fire blast at them to make the point. The battle had eaten the rest of the afternoon, so the minute the sun went down, Appa landed on a small ledge and everyone finally laid down for some hard won sleep.

* * *

><p>I was almost lazy and cut this in to two, but I decided to persevere. I'm not going to say this is my best, but I think it's okay. Hopefully I can make some early progress on the next chapter. We'll see. So, 'till then.<p> 


	33. A Wish to Train

This is probably going to be a fairly short chapter as it's pretty focused on Aang. I know what I plan to do with it, so it should be easy(ish) to get down.

On an only slightly related note, I've been noticing more and more people who have been giving me legitimately helpful reviews. Not everyone, but it's nice to see people actually show me some respect and acknowledge my frustration. Thanks to those of you who have done so and I'll try to be better about responding to you in the future.

* * *

><p>After a day of rest to recover from Azula's attrition plan, the sun rose on Aang's first day of earthbending training. He rose with the sun, he was so excited, though it wasn't until Toph rose that the real noise started. Not even Tom could sleep through all her shouting and earthbending. Tom watched Aang's first attempt at moving a rock. After seeing Toph demonstrate, he tried himself. There was definitely movement. Unfortunately, the thing that went flying was Aang, not the rock. As amusing as watching Aang's earthbending training would be, he had his own training to do.<p>

He had only used his "Dragon Burst" technique once, and to be fair, he was injured at the time. But if he wanted to make it a viable technique for battle, he'd have to be able to use it more than once without it completely exhausting him. Finding a spot away from all the concentration shattering rumbling. It had been a while since Tom had the chance to go over the basics, so he found a spot with no vegetation to burn and tried to gather as much power as he could. His barrier grew stronger with each breath. He let the power escalate. After a moment, he could feel wispy flames jump around him. The heat from the barrier reached a point where the heat was great enough to burn just from the oxygen in the air. Tom was wrapped in flames as he sat in the middle of nowhere. It felt like being wrapped in a heated blanket thanks to the almost microscopically thing cushion of unheated air between him and the fire.

It was easy enough to control, but it was hard to keep enough heat to maintain the flames. Directly feeding the flames had no chance of working since there was no way he could build up enough chi to use it for more than a second. For that matter, he didn't even really know how the whole chi thing worked. How _do_ you build up more chi? Was it just a matter of getting stronger, like with push-ups, or was there some trick to it? This sort of thing is so much easier in video games…

As for this method, it wasn't exactly conducive to pitched battle. It still took a lot of chi to produce this much heat, even if it was less chi than keeping it lit directly. And while he didn't have to poor all his focus into producing that much heat, it was a distraction he didn't need when someone like Zuko or Azula would be trying to pick at any weakness they could find. There had to be a solution. He had invested too much time in this technique to let it slip out of reach.

He had spent the morning on that, and returned to camp for lunch. When he returned, Aang had already hit the wall in his earthbending. Toph was milling around camp looking frustrated. "How's the teaching going?" Tom asked.

Toph scoffed, clearly annoyed. "Not so great. He can't move a rock, he can't stop a rock, sometimes it seems like he's not even trying!"

"Sounds rough."

"The worst part is I _know_ he's got it in him," she lamented, sitting down hard, "I've seen him face stuff like an earthbender, but he keeps overthinking it today."

"Well, he was raised an airbender. Being direct isn't natural for him," Tom noted.

"I know, but that doesn't make it any easier on me. I have to keep pushing him and be the bag guy until he gets his act together." Toph thought about it for a moment as she started going through her bag for something. "Well, I guess I don't really mind being the bag guy. It's just that Aang's so sensitive and Katara keeps pestering me about 'positive reinforcement'." Tom opened his mouth to speak, but Toph put up her hand, "I know she means well and all, but it still gets on my nerves."

Tom nodded, "I get it."

The two ate their lunch in relative silence. After they both finished, Toph spoke up again, "So what have you been up to?"

"I've been trying to work out a new technique," Tom explained.

"What kind?"

Tom chuckled as he thought about where the inspiration for Dragon Burst, "It's basically a fiery version of the Kaio-Ken."

"Kaio-what?"

There was a long pause as they both stared out into space. "I'm going to have to use that at some point."

Toph brushed off his weirdness having quickly gotten used to it. "So what's the problem?"

"Energy management," Tom sighed, "I can figure out a way to keep it up long enough to make it useful and not run myself out too fast."

"Well, if you need practice, Aang is messing around with his waterbending."

"Didn't I beat you last time _without_ firebending?"

Toph raised an eyebrow at that, "You tricked me into thinking you weren't a bender and then used firebending in the end anyway. I don't know how you did it without the crowd noticing, but you totally cheated."

"I cheated?"

"Yeah."

"Of course you know, this means war."

"You're on!"

They were both smiling the whole time as they got up and moved away from Appa so they could have their sparing match. Tom led off with a flurry of fireballs, taking advantage of the fact that he actually had a ranged attack to work with. Toph blocked them easily with a small stone wall. The wall rocketed at Tom, but he was able to shatter the rock with a flame empowered kick. Having fought Toph before, Top had a pretty good idea of how she fought and was able to anticipate the rock pillar that was intended to shoot him into the air. He was able to roll forward to both dodge it and close some distance between them. Toph responded by sending a shotgun blast of smaller rocks at Tom which he skirted around.

At point blank range, Tom definitely had the advantage. He was able to attack hand to hand without any problems, but Toph had no room to bend. After deflecting a few punches, she shoved the ground under his feet a few feet back, giving her the room she needed. Another pillar of rock followed. Tom had just enough time to regain his balance and lean out of the way. After taking a step, he kicked the end of off the pillar so it couldn't be thrown into his side. From there he launched a powerful fireball at Toph. She ducked into a low stance do dodge it and sent a fissure at Tom in response, which he easily dodged himself.

Now is a good a time as any, Tom thought as he intensified his pressure barrier. Toph drew up a large boulder from the ground and launched it at him. He poured out as much heat as he could and shot himself into the air. It was still too taxing, but he still had more than enough power left to finish this fight. Toph smiled on the ground below. "You can't get me with the same trick twice!" she announced before summoning a dome of earth around her.

Tom also grinned as he used what energy he had left to propel himself back down toward Toph's shield, shattering it on impact. To Tom's surprise, Toph wasn't under the dome. A second later, the shattered top closed up and he heard Toph laughing from the outside. "Ready to give up, Hotshot?"

"Never!" he returned dramatically, both of them genuinely having fun even if it was a serious sparing match. He tried to blast down the walls, but with all the energy he had already spent not having the advantage of gravity, it didn't even make a dent.

Tom heard Toph laugh outside as the dome started getting smaller, "And I thought earth was a stubborn element!"

Tom was wracking his brain on a way out when the walls stopped closing in at the sound of Katara's voice. "Toph! Let him out of there this instant!"

"Not until he admits defeat!"

"Never give up! Never surrender!"

"That's enough, both of you!" Katara scolded, "Someone's going to get hurt if this keeps up."

Tom heard Toph "Aww" in disappointment as the earth dome crumbled into dust around him.

"Are you alright?" Katara asked him once he had dusted himself off.

"No," he griped, "I was robbed! I coulda' been a contenda'!"

Katara rubbed temples to nurse her rapidly growing headache, "First Aang's trouble with earthbending, now you and Toph nearly kill each other… Now we just need some disaster with Sokka and my day will be complete!" Tom chuckled at that. If she only knew.

* * *

><p>This is pretty good I think. I was initially worried this chapter would be almost exclusively that fight scene, but I think I got some good character in. Not much to say here, so see you when I see you.<p> 


	34. A Wish for Knowledge, part I

I wanted to start this yesterday, but it's no Friday right now, so gift horses. This is a rather important chapter and some things should start to come together from here on out. I really hope I can pull this off. Only one way to find out.

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><p>Tom was reading through the copy of <em>The Prince<em> as Aang landed Appa near some burrows in a barren savanna. Everyone got off and Aang sat down in front of the burrows with a wooden flute he had made the day before. "What's out here?" Sokka asked as Tom closed his book.

"A lot, actually," Toph said, putting a hand to the ground. "There's hundreds of little-"

Aang shushed her and turned to the group with a smile, "I know you can see underground, but don't ruin the surprise. Just watch!" Aang turned back to the burrows and played a single note on his flute. A half second later, a little fuzzy brown groundhog-looking thing popped up from one of the burrows and cooed the note played on the flute. Aang laughed happily as he watched the rodent duck back underground, "Yeah!" He played another note and another groundhog popped up and replied like the first. "I'm putting an orchestra together!"

"Orchestra, huh?" Sokka asked incredulously, "Well, la dee dah." Three more Groundhogs popped up and repeated Sokka's la dee dah in their own squeaky voice. The movement was too much for Momo, who had been behaving up until that point and the little lemur started after the swift little groundhogs. Aang kept playing single notes and Momo kept up his chasing, putting on an amusing little show until Sokka plugged the flute with his finger. "This is great and all, but don't we have more important things to worry about? We should be making plans."

"We did make plans," Toph explained, "We're all taking mini vacations!"

Sokka gave Tom, who had gone back to his book, a dirty look. "Don't look at me," the firebender said without looking up, "My hands are clean in this."

"There's no time for vacations," Sokka said seriously.

"I'm learning the elements as fast as I can," Aang honestly replied, "I practice hard every day with Toph and Katara. I've been training my arrow off!"

"Yeah, what's wrong with having a little fun in our down time?" Katara asked the still clearly unconvinced Sokka.

"Even if you do master all of the elements, then what?" Sokka asked, "It's not like we have a map of the Fire Nation! Should we just head west until we reach the Fire Lord's house? Knock knock. Hello, Fire Lord? Anybody home?" The whole time Sokka was gesticulating comically to prove his point. He turned back to the group, back in his "leader mode". "We need some intelligence if we're going to win this war!" Aang blew out one more note that caused a groundhog to pop up between Sokka's feet before getting up.

"Alright, we'll finish our mini vacations and then we'll look for Sokka's 'intelligence'," Katara said with a grin on the last word, causing Aang to snicker.

Sokka didn't seem all that convinced, so Tom spoke up. "Let 'em have their fun. No good one of us getting burned out before the big battle even starts." That seemed enough to placate Sokka, so he relented. Toph jabbed Tom in the side as he went back to his book, "What?"

"Very punny, Mr. Firebender."

It took Tom a second, but he realized the unintentional pun he made and facepalmed. "Ugh, I'm never going to get used to this…"

"Your turn, Katara!" Aang announced, opening their map of the area.

"How about… the Misty Palms Oasis. That sounds refreshing!"

"Oh yeah, I've been there," Aang noted. "It's a pristine natural ice spring. And I usually don't use the word 'pristine'."

When they got there, the group collectively decided he shouldn't have used the word "pristine" in this case either. The map showed a charming town surrounding a towering mountain of ice on the edge of a vast desert. The only thing that was true to that description was the desert.

The town consisted of a few dozen tent-sized mud huts and two or three larger buildings with the same construction. The ice spring wasn't that impressive either, just a two or three foot tall mound of melting ice in a pit in the center of "town". Aang chuckled at the pathetic sight that he had talked up so much, "Must have changed ownership since I've been here… Heheheh…"

The people in town didn't seem that "pristine" either. Various people in desert gear were scattered around town, many of them eyeing the group like vultures. Aang led the group to the largest building in town. Inside was a bar surrounded by fruit. A patron made his order and the bartender collected the fruit, diced it and made the drink all with the pair of swords on his back. It was actually quite the little show to go along with your fresh fruit juice.

"I don't see anything wrong with having one of those fruity beverages while we plan our strategy," Sokka said before brushing past the rest of the group toward the bar. Everyone followed, but the man who had just gotten his drink bumped into Aang and spilled it all over him.

"Don't worry," Aang said politely, "I clean up easy." He airbended the spilled juice off his robe with ease.

The man gasped, "You're a living relic!"

"Thanks. I try."

"An Air Nomad right in front of me!" The man bowed politely as Sokka got himself and the others drinks. "Professor Zei, head of anthropology at Ba Sing Se University. Tell me," the professor started to examine Aang as he spoke, even going as far to measure the width of his head, "which of the Air Temples do you hail from?"

"The Southern Temple…"

"Oh, splendid! Now tell me, what was the primary agricultural product of your people?"

"Do fruit pies count as an agricultural product?"

"Oh, truly fascinating," the professor said as he got a book out of his bag, "That is one for the journal!"

"So professor," Sokka spoke up, "you're obviously a well-traveled guy. Do you have a more current map? Ours seems a bit dated."

"Certainly." The group found a table and Professor Zei presented his map. Unfortunately for Sokka, it was a map of the local desert only.

"What, no Fire Nation? Doesn't anyone have a good map of that place?!"

"You've made a lot of trips into the desert," Katara noted, pointing out the marks on the map indicating different routes through the scorched sands.

"All in vain, I'm afraid," the professor explained. "I've found lost civilizations all over the Earth Kingdom, but I haven't managed to find the crown jewel. Won Shi Tong's Library."

"You've spent years wandering through the desert to find some guy's library?" Toph scoffed.

"This library is more valuable than gold, little lady," the professor continued. "It is said to contain a vast collection of knowledge. And knowledge is priceless. According to legend, built by the great knowledge spirit Won Shi Tong, with the help of his foxy knowledge seekers."

"Oh, so this spirit has attractive assistants, huh?" Sokka asked.

"I think he means they look like actual foxes, Sokka," Katara said, batting him in the head lightly.

"Actually, that's something that always bugged me," Tom spoke up, "They're jackals, not foxes."

"You know the story?" Professor Zei asked.

"You could say that." Tom thought for a second, "Actually, now that I think about it, the whole Won Shi Tong Library thing kind of has an Egyptian bent to it. Huh."

"I've never heard about any civilization called 'Egyptian'," the professor noted, again pulling out his journal.

"So would this library have information on the Fire Nation?" Sokka asked, "Like a map, maybe?"

"Won Shi Tong's knowledge seekers are said to have collected knowledge from all over the world," the professor explained, "If such a thing exists, it would be there."

"Then it's settled," Sokka announced, "Aang, I do believe it's my turn. I'd like to spend my vacation **at the library**!" There was a noticeable pause after Sokka's dramatic (perhaps overdramatic) announcement.

"Hey, what about me?" Toph asked.

"You've gotta work here a little bit longer to qualify for vacation time," Sokka explained.

Toph didn't seem too happy about that, but she didn't say anything more. "When did you start keeping track of our work hours?" Tom asked Sokka skeptically.

"Actually, that's a good idea, I should do that…"

Everyone groaned as Sokka pulled out some paper and started writing something on it. "What have I done?" Tom whined jokingly.

"Of course there's the matter of finding it," Professor Zei said, getting back on track. "I've made several trips into the Si Wong desert and almost died each time. I'm afraid that desert's impossible to cross."

Sokka looked up from the chart he was scratching out to give the professor a confident look, "Professor, would you like to see our sky bison?"

"A sky bison?! You actually have one?!" They showed the professor outside to Appa, and just in time. Some of the locals were eyeing him and Appa wasn't happy about it. "Sand Benders! Shoo! Away from the bison!" the professor ordered. With an approaching group, the Sand Benders acquiesced and boarded their parked vehicles nearby.

"That doesn't exactly fill me with confidence…" Tom noted as the Sand Benders sailed away on their sand sailers, boat like things that were driven by little dust devils summoned by the Sand Benders.

"Don't mind them," Professor Zei said as they sailed out of sight over the dunes. "Sand Benders may steal to get by on occasion, but they're mostly harmless."

With that out of the way, the group made their way into the desert, sweeping areas that Professor Zei hadn't had the chance to search. He provided a detailed illustration of the library so everyone would know what to look for. After a few long, hot, monotonous hours, Sokka spotted something with his telescope.

The group landed before a great pillar jutting out of the sand. It was impressive, but the illustration also had measurements of the building and the stone structure they had found was only about as long as one of the building's ornamental towers.

They were about to give up when a small canine crested over a nearby sand dune. "It's got a scroll in its mouth," Tom noted as the animal started to jog lightly toward the tower. "Either it's really confused on how fetch works or that's one of the knowledge seekers."

The creature started running up the tower and in through a window very near the top. "I think you're right, Tom. We must be getting close to the library!" the professor said excitedly.

"No," Sokka said, taking another look at Professor Zei's drawing, "this _is_ the library. Look." Sokka pointed to the tower, than to the highest spire of the building in the drawing. It was a perfect match. "It's completely buried."

* * *

><p>Meh, pretty okay. I didn't really get as much done as early as I wanted, but that's no surprise to me. I do have plans for the next part and it should be a lot more exciting. Probably will have a lot more to say on that note, so we'll see if I can start that soon. Just listen for hell freezing over.<p> 


	35. A Wish for Knowledge, part II

Well, this is about as ahead as it gets for me. I'm actually looking forward to the next part of the story as I can pretty well justify it. Also, unlike last chapter, Tom will actually be able to **do** things. Hopefully this will turn out like I intend.

* * *

><p>"The library is buried?!" Professor Zei was taking the revelation that the mildly impressive tower they had found was actually the spire of Won Shi Tong's Library fairly well, all things considered. "My life's ambition is now full of sand!" The professor collapsed to his knees before the spire. A second later he looked up with a smile, producing a small gardening trowel, "Well, time to start excavating." He got a few shovelfuls out of the way before Toph walked up to the spire, giving it a good pat with her hand so she could sense what lied below.<p>

"Actually, that won't be necessary," she explained, "The inside seems to be completely intact. And it's _huge_."

"That fox thing went in through a window," Sokka noted.

"Jackal," Tom corrected.

"Whatever. I say we climb up there and give it a look."

"I say you guy go ahead without me," Toph said, walking toward Appa.

"You got something against books?" Katara asked.

"I've held books before," Toph returned, "And I gotta tell you, they don't exactly do it for me."

Katara realized the mistake she had made with her blind friend and smiled apologetically, "Oh, right. Sorry."

"I think I'll keep you company, Toph," Tom said. He was trying to keep the uncertainty in his voice down, and doing an okay job of it. He knew the Sand Benders from the Misty Palms Oasis would be back to try to steal and sell Appa. But where better to look for clues on his displacement than an interdimensional library? It was hard to suggest giving up this opportunity.

"But Tom," Katara said with concern, "This library could have information that could help you get home." _Don't remind me._

"Why wouldn't you want to go into the library?" Sokka asked equally perplexed.

Tom had had a fair amount of time to come up with an excuse, but he still had yet to come up with one he considered adequate. Still, he had to say something. "I'm worried about those Sand Benders from before might show up again and try to take Appa."

"Come on, Tom," Katara scoffed, "What are the chances we'll see those guys again?" Chances indeed. The Sand Benders were probably on the other side of a nearby sand dune waiting for their chance to pounce already.

Toph chimed in too, "Besides, I'm out here with him. Everything'll be fine."

"But how are the vibrations being transmitted through the sand? Are you sure you'll be able to see a sneak attack coming?"

"Well, now that you mention it, everything is a little fuzzy. But since when has there been something I couldn't handle?"

Tom still looked conflicted, so Aang stepped up. "I think I know what'll put your mind at ease, Tom." Aang walked with Tom behind Appa as the others looked to each other, perplexed. "So the Sand Benders come back?" Aang asked as soon as they were away from the group.

"Yeah, they kidnap and sell Appa and he ends up in Ba Sing Se," Tom explained, "You get him back there in one piece, but it's not exactly sunshine and rainbows to get to that point."

"Oh, man," Aang gasped, "I can't imagine what it would be like to lose Appa like that."

"The problem is Toph won't be able to see the Sand Benders coming because of the sand."

"Well, what if you just tell us where to go," Aang suggested, "Maybe if we get in and out quickly, we'll get out before the Sand Benders have the chance to attack."

"How do I do that without coming off as suspiciously pushy or just saying that I know the future? That isn't really a conversation we can be having right now."

"There's got to be a way to keep Appa safe and not lose this opportunity for you," Aang said as he petted Appa's leg. He was eavesdropping since he was the cover the two were hiding behind and it was him they were talking about. Good thing Appa was great at keeping secrets. "If only Toph could see the Sand Benders coming…"

"Well, I know she can turn the sand more solid, but that's only part of the problem. Toph'll be occupied trying to keep the library from sinking." Aang was about to ask about that, but Tom cut him off, "I'd be better if you act natural when it happens. The point is even if she sees them coming it'll only delay them."

"Well, wait. That's it!" Aang said happily, "The Sand Benders show up when the library sinks, right?" Tom nodded. "Once the library starts sinking, I'll make a break for the exit while you help Katara, Sokka, and the professor get out!"

Tom was unsure at first, but then he had an epiphany, "Wait, that gives me an idea. Sokka's going to want to go back as the library sinks to get the information we need. You and Katara get out as fast as you can after it hits the fan. Hopefully if we tell Toph about making the sand solid she can hold off the Sand Benders just that little bit longer you need."

"What about Professor Zei."

"He decides to 'spend an eternity there'." Aang grimaced at the thought, but Tom shrugged. "My guess is he goes to the spirit world with Won Shi Tong in one piece, so don't worry."

Aang was still looking a little uneasy about the idea, but he put it aside. "Okay. Now Appa won't get kidnapped and you can still look for clues on what happened to you."

"There's still a chance this won't work," Tom warned.

"No way," Aang said with a smile, "This is going to work perfectly." Aang jumped over Appa with his airbending and rejoined the group.

Tom chuckled as he walked around the sky bison, "Ever the optimist…"

Once the two rejoined the group, Toph spoke up again. "Hey, a thought occurred to me," she said as she leaned against one of Appa's big fuzzy legs, "I bet I could make the sand around me harder to see better. And making a lot of it will give me something to do out here. So you've got nothing to worry about, Hotshot."

Well, that was terribly convenient. Tom smiled and nodded. "You're right, I was just being paranoid."

"Well, good thing we have the big stwong Avatar to put your wittle worries to rest," Sokka mocked in a baby voice.

Tom just returned with a neutral look. A second later he turned to the others, "So who wants to hear what Sokka says in his sleep?"

"Let's just get into that library already!" Sokka said quickly as he started tying a rope around his boomerang. The group climbed down from the spire into the magnificent structure. It looked like it went on forever in every direction and the walls ware adorned with beautiful mosaics and carvings of mighty owls.

After making only a cursory glance around, the group heard a sound and everyone but Tom ran to hide. By the time the origin of the noise was in view, the others were just starting to notice that Tom hadn't ducked behind the nearby columns with them.

The creature that appeared was an eight foot or so tall black owl with a white face. It walked out calmly and strode over to Tom, who was waiting for it. "My my," the being spoke, "Haven't you traveled far to reach my study?"

"You could say that," Tom said, not for a moment paused by the giant talking owl. This was clearly the spirit and owner of the library, Won Shi Tong. Tom leaned in and spoke softly so his friends couldn't hear, "Would I be wrong to guess you already know why we're here?"

The mighty owl's unreadable eyes stared down at Tom for a moment, considering. "Yes, I know what your friends intend to do with the knowledge in my library. I don't approve, but I understand. Your intentions, on the other wing, I cannot divine."

"I just want to see if I can find a way home," Tom replied.

There was another moment of contemplative study. "I believe you. But know that if I catch any of you when the time comes, I will kill you. An all-knowing spirit being has to have his standards, after all."

"I understand," Tom said as he politely bowed.

"And as for the rest of you," the great owl said, turning his head to face where the others were hiding (the long way!), "I know you're back there." The rest of the time spent in the library was largely unchanged from the show. Tom presented his copy of _The Prince_ as his donation to Won Shi Tong's library as he asked. "Well. I can honestly say I don't have anything like this. A valuable donation." The book disappearing from Tom's hand as the spirit swept its wing over it felt weird. The group didn't really have any ideas for what they wanted to find or where to look for it. There didn't seem to be any overarching organizational system, but a book on the topic you wanted just seemed to be on whatever shelf you happened to be looking on. On top of that, while Tom couldn't read the Mandarin that everything in this world was written in, he just kind of intrinsically knew what the characters on the pages meant inside the library.

Unfortunately, while he found several books on different dimensions, none of it was particularly useful to him. It largely consisted of either theoretical physics that were _way_ over his head or anecdotes about how traveling through a mirror sends you to fantastic worlds beyond what is known. It was hard to tell what was useful and what wasn't. Eventually, Sokka found a burnt page on display with the phrase "the darkest day in Fire Nation history" and a date.

Unfortunately, when they went to check out what it meant, they found the wing with all the information on the Fire Nation destroyed by a convenient fire. Fortunately, one of the knowledge seekers led the group to a planetarium. When Sokka entered the date on the parchment, the planetarium showed a solar eclipse.

"Now I get it!" Sokka exclaimed with glee, "Something awful happened on that day. I don't know what, but I do know why; firebenders lose their bending during a solar eclipse!" Unfortunately, just as this revelation was made, Won Shi Tong entered behind them. Though, in reality, fortune had nothing to do with it.

Saying he didn't want to see his knowledge abused by those who would use it for war, Won Shi Tong used his power to start to sink the building. Everyone tried to make for the exit, but Won Shi Tong attacked. Everyone was able to get past him and thanks to Aang's airbending, they were able to get enough of a head start against the powerful spirit. When Sokka said he wanted to go back to the planetarium to find out when the next eclipse was, Tom said he'd cover him, allowing Aang, Katara, and Professor Zei to head for the exit. After a few tries on dates between the current one and the arrival of Sozen's Comet, Sokka was able to find the date and they too made for the exit. Won Shi Tong was waiting for them under the rope they needed to get out and they were running out of time. Tom created a wide Heat Shimmer field that allowed Sokka to sneak up on the usually observant spirit and knock it out cold with a large book.

Tom and Sokka started their way up the rope, but just as they passed the bottom of the spire, Won Shi Tong woke up and pulled the rope lose form its bonds on the top of the building. Tom grabbed Sokka's hand as they fell then jetted himself to the wall of the spire. He kicked off and up with another flame boost as the giant owl flew for them. Just before Won Shi Tong caught up with them, Tom's wall jumping got them to the high window and the leapt out.

Tom was barely able to land on his feet and look around while Sokka faceplanted. The sand around the tower was mostly condensed into a hard plate, but big chunks of it were missing. Appa, Aang, and Katara were also missing.

Toph couldn't hold the library anymore and the sheer force of it sliding down into the depths of the sand tossed Toph away from it. "Where are they?" Tom asked once Toph picked herself up.

"Sand Benders…" Toph gasped, barely able to keep on her feet, "They attacked Appa… Held 'em off as long as I could… They got away, but Aang and Katara got out… They could still see him and chased…" Toph pointed a shaky finger towards the dunes, "…that way."

"Sokka, stay with Toph until she catches her breath and then follow." Sokka picked himself up off the rather hard bit of sand he smashed into when he landed and flashed the thumbs up. Tom took off in the direction Toph pointed knowing his intervention still had a chance of making a chance for the good. And he hoped against hope it would.

* * *

><p>Okay, so maybe I cut a few corners with this one, but I don't think it does any kind of damage to it. Frankly, there should have been more in the last one to lessen what this one had to do, but that's neither here nor there. Not my best, but I'd go as far as to say I like it.<p> 


	36. A Wish to Endure, part I

For goodness sake, I'm going to work ahead. I'm off to see the new Godzilla again because a friend hasn't had the chance yet this Friday so I have to get this done before than or miss my deadline. Works for me. This should be a unique little thing for me as it's not just going to set up some plot points for me, but it also might be pretty different from the source material. Let's see.

* * *

><p>Tom had used up a lot of energy in the Library itself. He had probably overestimated himself with the idea that he could just run off and catch up with Aang and his glider. Still he pressed on in the direction Toph had pointed out. He ran fairly aimlessly through the dunes, hoping he was staying on track. There were faint lines in the sand Tom was hoping were the tracks of the Sandbenders' sand sailers, but he couldn't be sure with the wind shifting everything around.<p>

It took him a while, but Tom was finally able to spot something actually useful. It was still a ways off in the distance, but it was pretty clear that that was his goal. After all, what else could kick up a dust cloud that size?

With the renewed vigor that came with the affirmation that he was indeed going the right way, Tom raced toward the sandy cloud that stood just a bit before the horizon. It probably took longer than it felt given how sweaty Tom was by the time he got there, but for the sake of maintaining his adrenalin, he didn't dwell on it. He got to the sand cloud itself, but between the whipping wind and the thick veil of dust, he couldn't make anything out other than some number of benders had to be responsible for the unnatural event.

He had just gotten to the cloud when a sand sailer burst out of it, toeing a tied up Appa on a sled behind it. Tom threw a fireball at the Sandbender in the back of the vehicle, but he knew he wouldn't hit him. Tom's target was the rope connecting Appa to the sand sailer. With the lead he put on his shot, his relatively slow projectile met its fast target. The low quality rope burned through almost immediately, causing Appa to slide to a halt and the Sandbenders to go flying off their suddenly much faster sand sailer.

Tom's first goal was to get to poor Appa, who was tied uncomfortably and looked like he might have taken a stray attack to one of his legs and was hurt. Tom's rush to his furry friend was stopped short, however by a blast of sand from the now very angry Sandbenders. Tom meant to roll out of the way, but with all the exertion in the past… wait, how long did it take for him to run all the way out here? In any event, his tumble to safety turned more into an uncoordinated flop into the sand. Before that show of matchless athleticism could continue, the towering cloud of dust was blasted away in every direction by a mighty gust of wind. Tom had to cover his face to keep the mini sandstorm from blasting him.

When he looked up, he saw Aang and Katara where the center of the cloud used to be. "Look!" Katara called, pointing to the stalled Sandbenders, "I think the rope broke!"

"That was mine," Tom said, his hand popping out of the little bump of a sand dune he had become.

"You okay, Tom?" Aang asked.

He may have been tiered, but Tom hopped back to his feet all the same. "But of course."

The Sandbenders started their attack again, but Aang was able to block their attacks with his airbending fairly easily. "It's over!" Aang declared, "Just leave Appa alone and leave before you get hurt!"

The Sandbenders didn't look any more inclined to back off, readying another volley of sand. Tom just smiled at them. "Hey, Aang. What do you say we put on a show for them?"

"Sounds great. What do you have in mind?"

"Just kick up a good dust cloud and close your eyes," Tom said cryptically, "This is probably going to be one of my _brighter_ ideas." Aang just shrugged as he kicked up a cloud of dust and he, Katara, and Appa closed their eyes. When the dust cloud reached its peak, Tom bathed it in flames and covered his own eyes. Just as they shut, the light intensified almost enough to show through his eyelids. It only lasted a second, but it was long enough to blind the Sandbenders if all their screaming was any indication.

When Tom opened his eyes he saw the Sandbenders scrambling for their sand sailer. His little trick didn't quite have the effect he hoped it would since the only harm done to them was to their eyes, but it got rid of them all the same.

"One of your 'brighter' ideas? Really?" Tom turned to Katara, who was giving him an almost disappointed look. "That was a Sokka level pun, Tom."

Tom just smiled and shrugged. "What? Aren't I allowed to have a little fun once in a while?"

Katara rolled her eyes, but smiled back. "By the way, what did you just do?" Tom's answer was to walk over to where the sand that got kicked up was and pick something up. He blew on it, presumably to cool it off, and handed it to Katara. She looked it over and found it to be a clear, rounded, irregular object. "Is this glass?"

"Yup!" Aang, who was trying to untie Appa as quickly as possible said. "I saw some firebenders doing lightshows by melting sand into glass before I got frozen."

Tom frowned, "Aww. I thought I was being original with that one…" He picked up another piece of glass and rolled it in his hand. "And it didn't give them the thousand paper cuts from hell treatment like I hoped it would either. At least the caught the sun or that would have been embarrassing."

"I didn't know glass was made from sand," Katara said, admiring the glass piece in her hand. "You must have good schools where you're from."

Tom gave a coy shrug, "With my attendance record, I wouldn't know." Aang finished untying Appa and the Sky Bison gratefully hopped off of the wooden sled he had been bound to. But after just one step, his wounded leg gave out and he collapsed. "He okay?"

Aang examined the wound for a moment. "It's not pretty, but he'll be fine. I don't think he'll be flying for a while, though." Aang hopped over in front of his furry friend and gave his nose a hug. In spite of the painful injury, Appa still gave the airbender a great big lick. "I'm glad we caught up with you too, buddy," Aang laughed.

"We should probably get him out of the sun," Tom said. With his adrenalin wearing off and exhaustion catching up with him, he looked like he was about to fall over. "I'll see if I can scrounge up something."

Before he even took a full step, Katara blocked him. "Oh, no you don't. You look like your about to pass out. Again. Go sit in Appa's shadow and I'll take care of giving him some shade." Tom was going to respond, but she gave him a cross look.

Tom could only groan and start toward the side of Appa opposite the sun, "Yes, _mom~_." Katara just rolled her eyes and got to work.

Katara was able to use the rain catchers and the wood from the cart Appa had been spirited away on to make a canopy to shade Appa. Meanwhile, Aang tended to Appa's leg. Something with a dull edge seemed to have cut a shallow, but fairly large wound, but Aang was able to clean and dress it fairly easily.

A little bit later, Sokka and Toph were able to catch up and join the makeshift camp. With everyone together, they got ready to turn in after the long day against the bright and colorful setting sun.

Even after how tired he had gotten over the course of the day, Tom still managed to have trouble getting to sleep. With nothing else to do, he just tended the campfire, watching the color of the flame dance and change.

"So. You can see the future?" Tom's head snapped toward the voice, confirming its owner to be Toph. "And here I thought seeing with my feet was unique."

"How did-" Tom stopped and thought about yesterday. "Bad eyes, good ears."

"I'd have thought you were crazy if not for the bandits and the sand thing," Toph said lightly, "I didn't even know I could do that." There was an uneasy pause as they just watched each other (with whatever senses they watched with). "So you got a reason you don't just tell the others about your psychic powers?"

"I'm not psychic," Tom explained. He sighed and tried to come up with a simple explanation. Of course he couldn't find one. "I'm from a… I don't know, a different dimension, different planet? Whatever it is, I'm not from this Earth. And where I'm from, Aang's life is a work of fiction. That's how I knew stuff. Other than me being here, I've seen all this before."

"Except Appa was supposed to be taken away by the Sandbenders, right?" Toph asked, to which Tom nodded. "Cool. I wish I knew what was going to happen next."

"You're just taking this at face value?"

"Well, you're not lying, so I know you believe what you're saying at least."

Tom gave her a questioning look, "Wait, how do you know I'm not lying?"

"I thought you said you knew this story."

It took a second, but again the answer came to Tom. "Oh, right. Heart rate and breathing." He chuckled a bit, "I forgot you were a human lie detector."

"So why not tell everyone?"

Tom thought about it for a second. If he told them now they'd believe him with Aang and Toph backing him. "Well… I guess I don't want to change too much. If it wasn't a secret than we could just avoid half the story. But there are some important things along the way that I'd rather not miss. And besides, if I change too much, I won't know what will happen in advance anymore."

"True. But then why save Appa? Isn't that a pretty big change?"

"Maybe. But some changes are worth making. And as it turns out, I may not have messed with the order of events all that much. I'm not happy about Appa getting hurt, but at least we're still walking to Ba Sing Sei like we're supposed to."

"Makes sense to me," Toph said as she got up to go back to bed. She took a few steps before turning back to Tom, "Still, secrets like this have a way of coming out all on their own eventually."

Tom smiled, "I hope to be disappeared off to another dimension by the time that happens."

Toph nodded and returned the smile, "You tell me how that turns out." With that she returned to bed, leaving Tom alone again to contemplate the campfire.

* * *

><p>This is interesting. This is pretty much what I wanted (though again I'm splitting an episode up due to time). Que sera sera. This one was actually uncommonly fun for me since it was pretty much mine start to finish. Not really much else to say other than I'm glad it isn't 11:53 pm right now. Oh, and before anyone says it, I will explain why Appa can walk but not fly if his leg is hurt in the next chapter. That's not a slip up on my part.<p> 


	37. A Wish to Endure, part II

I'm kind of leaving this to the last minute again, but oh well. This might be a bit more recognizable perhaps, but it should still be good. I don't know where this will stop as the circumstances I've created alter how things go. I guess there's nothing to do but dive in.

* * *

><p>Appa's wounded leg meant that the group couldn't move the next day. As it turned out, this was a blessing in disguise as they quickly learned that moving during the day was impossible. It was so hot under the desert sun that it was outright dangerous! They decided that they would move during the cool of night once Appa was able.<p>

It only took the rest of that day before Appa could put his full weight on his leg. Everyone was hoping that Appa being able to walk would also mean he could fly, but unfortunately that wasn't the case. Aang explained that Appa's legs were just as important in his flying as his tail and that flying would be too much of a strain on the wound. As much as Sokka had a hard time piecing together how that worked mechanically, everyone agreed that they'd have to get out of the desert on foot.

That left the problem of which way to go as they had nothing but the eternally shifting sand dunes to guide them. "We're literally in the middle of the desert!" Sokka said, his thrown up arms silhouetted against the setting sun, "How do we even know which way to start walking?"

"I say that way," Tom said, pointing toward the horizon.

"We can't just pick a random and hope for the best!" Sokka complained.

"It's not random," Tom assured, "We still need to get to Ba Sing Se to tell the Earth King about the eclipse, right? That means we should head north. All we really know is that we're right in the middle of the desert, so just about any direction would be the shortest way out."

Sokka glanced over his shoulder at the setting sun, than in the direction Tom had pointed. After a moment of contemplation, Sokka spoke up again, "Alright, but how do we make sure we don't lose our way at night? The sand dunes could throw us off track, and it's harder to get your bearings with just the moon."

"What about the stars?" Katara suggested, "Don't ships use the stars to orient themselves?"

The comment gave Sokka a flash of inspiration. Reaching into his bag he pulled out an expensive looking scroll and opened it against the emerging stars. After looking between the night sky and the open scroll a few times, he nodded. "Yeah, I think that might work. This is a star chart I had gotten from the library. I think we can make it."

"What about food and water?" Toph asked.

"We have enough food for about a week," Katara said, looking over the supplies in Appa's saddle, "but water might be a bit of a problem. We'll have to ration it."

Toph snorted and crossed her arms. "Great. Now I'm twice as thirsty."

"It should only take us a few days to get out of here as long as we don't get turned around," Aang mentioned. "Once we get out of the desert, we should be fine. And Appa should be able to fly just a little as his leg starts to heal. We'll be just fine."

He had to say it. While traveling at night was better than getting baked in the heat of the sun, the group quickly found out that the desert had a colder side as the nights turned frigid. It was slow going at first with Appa limping along, but his pace improved over time. Unsurprisingly the water supply started to dwindle rather quickly. As the sun started to peek above the mountains to the east, the group set up their camp. They put the rain catchers back up using the same set up as before and hid from the rapidly rising heat. Fortunately, with their food stores in Appa's saddle, they didn't go hungry.

They had a little water left, but it was pretty clear it was going to run out. That's when Sokka noticed a nearby cactus. Tom was just trying to get to sleep when he heard him pipe up. "Hey look! There's water trapped inside these cactuses!"

"Don't drink that!" Tom shot up and ran around Appa to see Sokka and Momo finishing a big swig from the cut up plant.

"Why not? It's very thirst quenching."

Tom face palmed as the other looked to see what was going on. "At least there aren't any friendly mushrooms…" Everyone briefly gave Tom a quizzical look, but soon Sokka was the focus when he started to incoherently mutter out what seemed to be an advertisement for "Cactus Juice". Momo seemed equally afflicted by whatever Sokka had.

"So, we're not drinking anything that comes out of a cactus I guess…" Aang said as Sokka and Momo started falling all over themselves in a kind of drunken stupor.

"Why not?" Toph asked, though it was hard to tell if her question was genuine or not.

Katara groaned as Sokka's behavior got more and more silly, "Sokka, you know you shouldn't eat strange plants!" She moved to collect their two compromised companions when she noticed Tom eyeing one of the dropped sections of cactus. "I know we're all thirsty Tom, but you can't seriously be considering…"

"What? No! Of course not." Tom said assuredly. "I was just thinking it might be nice if we could purify the water in that plant somehow. Do you think you could?"

Katara looked at the pool of liquid at the bottom of the section of cactus Sokka had cut for Momo. "I don't think there's anything in it. I think it's just bad water."

"Well, most liquids you normally see is just water with something in it," Tom said, seeming to start to try to piece something together. "This cactus puts a chemical in the water it stores that turns you into that if you try to eat it or drink from it. But I guess I'd be a little ridiculous to ask you to separate the water on a molecular scale."

"I don't suppose you know any tricks for purifying water?" Toph asked, walking back under the shade of the rain catcher.

Tom thought for a second. "Not really. I don't know how to make a DIY water filter or something like that. I guess I could make, like, a sort of solar still, but you need plastic for that."

"What's plastic?"

"It's this thin, clear stuff that's really light and strong," Tom explained. "The idea is you use it to catch the sun and it makes impure water evaporate and then it condensates onto the plastic as pure water leaving the impurities behind. I know you can use it to make salt water drinkable."

"Why would you salt water?" Sokka asked, rolling around in the sand to the side of the conversation, "That's what we have the ocean for…"

Katara walked over to the two afflicted troublemakers to guide them under the canopy and out of the sun. "Well, would glass work for that?" she asked as she helped them to their feet, "After all, we know you can make that here."

Tom smiled, "Yes! Yes, that would probably work! Time to go into the glass blowing business!" He took a step to get to a safe distance from the others, but then stopped abruptly. "I hope I don't horribly burn myself…"

With Katara tied up trying to keep Sokka and Momo from wondering off to their untimely deaths, Aang elected himself to help Tom with trying to make the glass for his "solar still". It was really hard to get up enough heat to melt enough sand into an actual sheet. It wasn't easy to melt some scattered grains in the heat of the moment, but this was a tall order. What he finally came up with was a thin, slightly cloudy, dull sheet of something close enough to glass after an hour of effort. The fact that it was warped and not a flat sheet actually was a boon since it made collecting the water easier.

Tom and Aang dug a pit and placed pieces of cactus with water in them in the hole around the sides. In the middle was a drinking cup and the glass was placed over that. Tom checked the still every few minutes in spite of the others telling him about watched pots. After a more hours in the scorching sun, the still did indeed start working. As the cactus juice evaporated, it collected on the glass and dripped down into the cup as hopefully pure water.

When there was enough water for a sip, Katara bent it out. Just because the water evaporated didn't mean it wouldn't still mess with your head. Tom volunteered to put his mind on the line and try it out. After gulping the half a mouthful of water down, everyone waited. "…Have I done anything crazy yet? I feel fine, am I fine?"

"It worked!" Aang cheered, "Our water worries are over!"

Again, he had to say it. By the time the poor cactus was a stub, they had only added a half a water skin's worth of water. But it was something. Four more nights of thirsty trudging and two cactuses later, the Si Wong's sands gave way to craggy rocks. By then the cactus juice had worked its way out of Sokka and Momo's systems and everyone cheered at the sound of a distant running river. It didn't matter how far away it was, they could hear it and that meant they could find it. They had finally found their way out. Everyone made it out safely.

* * *

><p>I don't know if I'll play with this one when I get back around to it. I feel like I could have done more with it, but I still like it. I have a pretty good idea of what I'm going to be doing for the next long stretch. I guess that's about all I have to say. Criticism wanted as always.<p> 


	38. A Wish to Arrive, part I

Starting really, really late on this one. I lost two days somewhere (mostly playing Brouzouf: Divine Brouzoufmancy) and slept in most of today. This one will be somewhat different from the source material, but it shouldn't be that hard to write. Hopefully I can get this done in one go. (And then I can go back to gaining all of the Brouzoufs! I love E.Y.Ǝ.: Divine Cybermancy.)

* * *

><p>It was unbelievably refreshing to have an inexhaustible supply of clean, fresh water after being in the desert for so long. Aang and Katara were enjoying the deep river with some swimming while Toph just stayed on shore, kicking her feet in the cooling river. Tom would have joined Aang and Katara, but he didn't really have anything to wear for that. He'd have to remember to get something to swim in once they got to Ba Sing Se.<p>

Sokka was the only one not content to just relax as he poured over maps he had taken from Won Shi Tong's Library. He was concentrating on the map so hard he didn't notice his sister climbing to the top of a nearby cliff overlooking the river. "Waterbending bomb!" Katara's impact with the water resulted in a tidal wave rising over everyone. Aang was thrown from the river and Sokka and Toph were drenched as the wave came down on them. The only one that managed to avoid such a fate was Tom, having blocked the wave with his Pressure Barrier.

Everyone laughed with joy at that except for Sokka, who shockingly managed to find something to complain about. "Sure. Five thousand year old maps from the Spirit Library. Just splash some water on them."

"Sorry," Katara said bashfully as the waterbended the moisture out of the maps to instantly dry them.

"So did you figure out what route we're going to take?" Aang asked as the group gathered around Sokka's newly dried map.

"We just got out of the desert, so we must be around here," Sokka explained as he pointed out a location on the map. "We need to go to Ba Sing Se which is here. It looks like the only passage from the south to the north is this sliver of land called the 'Serpent's Pass'."

"You're sure that's the best way to go?" Toph asked skeptically.

"It's the only way to go," Sokka emphasized. "Unless Appa's ready to fly us over the lakes in our way."

Aang patted his big furry friend on the head, "He's doing better, but I don't want him to hurt himself again…" Appa gave a contented grunt at the attention he was getting.

"Then I guess that's settled," Sokka said, storing his maps, "To Ba Sing Se we go. No more distractions."

"Hello there, fellow refugees!" a random stranger hailed.

Sokka gave a suspicious look as Aang and Katara ran up to greet them. "You do this to yourself, you know," Tom said with a knowing grin. Sokka just groaned as the two groups met proper.

The newcomers were two adults, likely husband and wife given that the woman was clearly expecting, and a younger girl, probably their daughter. "So are you guys headed to Ba Sing Se too?" Aang asked.

"Sure are," the man said, "We're trying to get there before my wife Ying has her baby."

"Great! We can travel through the Serpent's Pass together," Katara suggested brightly.

All three refugees recoiled at that thought. "The Serpent's Pass?" Ying gasped, "Only the truly desperate take that deadly route!"

"Deadly route?" Toph parroted. She gave Sokka a good hard punch in the arm, "_Great_ pick, Sokka."

Sokka recovered quickly enough, "Well, we are desperate."

"You should come with us to Full Moon Bay," Ying's husband suggested, "Farriers take refugees across the lake. It's the fastest way to Ba Sing Se."

"And it's hidden," Ying added, "So the Fire Nation can't find it."

Just to rub it in, Katara rubbed her chin as if in thought, "Hmm. Peaceful ferry ride, or deadly pass…" Sokka was not nearly as amused by his sister's sarcasm as she was. Still, it was hard to argue with her logic.

It didn't take long to get to the cave in which the hidden port was located. Aang even suggested that Ying ride there on Appa's saddle, though she politely declined. Tom suggested that the three refugees stick with them until they got to Ba Sing Se, but they said they didn't want to be a bother and the groups parted. The cave the bay was hidden in was filled with the tents of the refugees that weren't able to get on a ferry for one reason or another. The place carried an air of oppressive sadness.

It didn't take long for Aang and company to get up to the desk that granted tickets to the ferry. The got a good show of the kind of person in charge of distribution as an unfortunate (and somewhat familiar) cabbage salesman had his inventory destroyed. And by a trained Platypus Bear no less! The forty something year old woman showed little concern for his grief as she demanded "NEXT!" with her raspy voice.

"Umm, five tickets for the ferry to Ba Sing Se, please…" Aang asked tentatively.

"Passports," the woman demanded in a sharp, automatic response.

"No one told me we needed passports," Aang admitted.

"Don't you know who this is?" Sokka asked, "He's the Avatar."

"I see fifty Avatars a day," the woman scoffed, continuing her paperwork. "And by the way, not a very impressive costume," she pointed out a group of people in outfits clearly meant to mimic Aang's. Still, Aang nodded contently at that sincerest form of flattery. "Besides, no animals on the ferry!" the woman added, motioning to both Momo on Aang's shoulder and Appa behind them. "Do I need to call security?" The attention turned back to the Platypus Bear who was still destroying what was left of the previous applicant's cabbage cart.

"That won't be necessary," Aang assured as he backed away.

Toph stepped up as the woman called for the next applicant. "I'll take care of this," she assured. Toph placed what looked like a business card on the woman's desk, "My name is Toph Bei Fong and I'll need five tickets."

The woman at the desk gasped at the sight of the simple slip. "The golden seal of the flying boar! It is my pleasure to help anyone of the Bei Fong family!" she said with a seated bow.

"It _is_ your pleasure," Toph assured. "As you can see, I am blind, and these three imbaciles are my valets," she explained, gesturing to Aang, Katara, and Sokka.

"W-well, what about him?" the woman asked, referring to Tom.

"That would be my bodyguard," Toph supplied right away, "You can never be too careful these days."

"Right, of course," the woman agreed, still flustered, "But the animal there is-"

"Is my seeing eye lemur," Toph said, cutting her off. "And needless to say the big one is carrying my things."

"I- uhh, well…" the woman stammered, "I suppose I can make an exception for your seeing eye… lemur… but I'm afraid the other one is simply too big. It just can't fit on the ferry."

"Well, if we load the saddle and all our stuff on the ferry," Aang said, thinking out loud, "I guess he and I can make it across the lake on our own."

"Alright then," Toph said, turning back to the lady, "I'll only be needing four tickets for the ferry."

The woman seemed more perplexed by the second, particularly at how the giant, fluffy, six-legged thing was supposed to get across the lake at all, but she shook herself out of her thoughts long enough to continue her work. "Right, well… Normally it's only one ticket per passport, but this document is so official… I guess it's worth four tickets."

With that sorted out, Toph grabbed the four tickets and the group departed. Tom couldn't help but roll his eyes at the idea that something being judged as "official" enough to bend the rules for. "Eighteenth century bookkeeping at its finest." He then looked to Toph, who was at the front of the group after her triumph, "So I'm your bodyguard?"

"Disappointed?" she asked.

"Not at all," Tom replied, "Though I loath to see the day you need one."

Toph chuckled, "Don't worry, Hotshot. That day'll never come."

They didn't get far before Sokka got grabbed by a young, angry-looking female security guard, who demanded he show her his ticket and passport. "Is there a problem?" Sokka asked worriedly.

"Yeah, I got a problem with you!" the guard said, jabbing him with an accusatory finger. "I've seen your type before. Probably sarcastic, think your hilarious, and let me guess; your traveling with the Avatar!"

"Do I know you?" Sokka asked, now just as curious as scared.

"You mean you don't remember?" the guard asked, "Maybe you'll remember this." She grabbed Sokka by the shirt threateningly, only to give him a kiss on the cheek.

It only took another beat before Sokka realized who the guard was; "Suki!"

They group moved to as secluded a location as they could find to talk to one of the first friends they had met on their journey. Suki took note that not everyone in the group had been with them at the time. "So," she said in Tom and Toph's direction, "I see you've made some additions to the gang."

"This is Toph and Tom," Aang introduced. "We met Tom a little while after we left Kyoshi. And Toph we met a little while back. She's my earthbending teacher."

"Nice to meet you both," Suki said politely, the two in question returning the curtesy.

"You look so different without your makeup," Katara noted, "And the new outfit…"

"That crabby lady makes all the security guards wear them," Suki explained before turning to Sokka, "And look at you, sleeveless guy. Been working out?"

"Ehh, I'll grab a tree branch and do a few chin touches every now and again," Sokka said while flexing, "Nothing major."

"Are the other Kyoshi Warriors around?" Aang asked.

"Yeah. After you left Kyoshi we wanted to find a way to help people," Suki answered, "We ended up escorting some refugees and we've been here ever since. So why are you guys getting tickets to the ferry? Wouldn't you just fly across on Appa?"

"Appa got hurt when we were in the desert on the way here," Tom explained.

"Is he going to be okay?" Suki asked, genuinely concerned.

"He'll be fine," Aang assured, "We just want to give him as much of a chance to rest and recover as we can."

"Well, that's good to hear at least."

The conversation might have continued, but Ying and her family rushed up to the group. "Avatar Aang," she addressed, clearly distraught, "You have to help us. Someone took all of our belongings! Our tickets, our passports. Everything's gone!"

"I'll talk to the lady for you," Aang assured.

It went about as well as you'd expect. "No passports, no tickets!" the crabby lady snarled absolutely.

"But she's pregnant and all of their stuff was stolen!" Aang pleaded, "You have to make an exception."

"No exceptions! If I just gave a way tickets willy-nilly, there'd be no more order! And you know what that means; no more civilization!"

"What if we gave them our tickets?" Aang suggested.

"No!"

"But-"

"NEXT!"

"Don't worry," Aang said, returning to Ying and her family, "You'll get to the city safely. I'll lead you through the Serpent's Pass."

* * *

><p>Yeah, it's broken up, but I think it works. It's not like nothing happened here. Not really much to say as the fun part will be in the next half. Luckily I have plans for that. See you then.<p> 


	39. A Wish to Arrive, part II

Am I actually starting a week ahead? Oh, happy day! Hopefully I can knock out a nice big chunk of this early so I don't end up cutting stuff for the sake of time. I really don't like doing that, but trust me I'd be playing E.Y.Ǝ.: Divine Cybermancy right now if I didn't hold myself to a schedule. So in the hopes that I can get this done early, let's get ourselves through the Serpent's Pass.

* * *

><p>"I can't believe we gave up our tickets to the ferry, and now we're going through the Serpent's Pass," Sokka said dramatically as the now slightly larger party made their way to the cave's exit.<p>

"I can't believe you're still complaining about it," Toph grumbled everyone's thoughts in response.

"I'm coming too!" The group turned to see Suki catching up with the group in full Kyoshi warrior regalia, which consisted of a green, lightly armored dress, a gold headdress and white geisha-like face paint. Tom had to admit it looked a lot better in person than it did in the show.

The group was happy for the extra help, but Sokka looked unsure. "Are you sure that's a good idea?" he asked worriedly.

"Sokka, I thought you'd want me to come," Suki returned, surprised by his reaction.

"I do, it's just…"

"Just what?" she asked, more forcefully.

"Nothing," Sokka said after a moment, "I'm glad you're coming." With that the group departed, though Sokka lingered in the rear, looking unsure.

As it turned out, Full Moon Bay was fairly close to the Serpent's Pass. It only took about two hours to get to it. And it wasn't that hard to spot either. While the pass was only about eight to ten feet wide in most places and not much more than double at its widest, it had many tall crests shrinking off into the horizon across the lake.

"This is the Serpent's Pass?" Sokka asked, gesturing to the formation, "I thought it would be more winding. You know, like a serpent? Guess they misnamed it."

"Well, it's undulating," Tom supplied.

"I guess that's true," Sokka agreed, "Though I still think it's false advertising." The universe really dose hate him, doesn't it?

"Look at this writing," Ying said, focusing on one of the legs of the Shinto-looking gate. She took a second to look over the characters and gasped, "How awful."

"What does it say?" the blind girl of the group asked.

"It says 'abandon hope'," Katara read aloud.

"How can we abandon hope?" Ying asked, "That's all we have…"

Tom chuckled, "Ehh, that's just someone thinking they're clever. You have us for whatever this place intends to throw at us." Tom was the first through the gate, smiling over his shoulder at the worried refugees, "What's that old saying? Hope for the best, plan for the worst?"

The group progressed, some more tentatively than others, through the gate and up the first steep hill of the pass. Having Appa there actually made the track a bit more dangerous thanks to his size. He was the last in the group and had to be careful to stop if the people in front of him did, lest he knock someone off the cliff. Good thing the sky bison was careful and attentive despite his discomfort on the narrow space. Aang suggested that Ying ride on Appa given her vulnerable state, but she insistently declined, knowing Appa was hurt. While the offer was genuine, both the airbender and the sky bison appreciated the consideration.

In spite of the steep hills and valleys of the pass, the group made good time. The sun was starting on its journey toward the horizon and they had already made it a quarter of the way across the lake. With no incident no less! With luck, they'd be able to finish the hike by tomorrow afternoon. There wasn't much to look at in terms of scenery with just the barren pass and the flat lake to look at, but everyone found their eyes drawn to the Fire Navy warship patrolling the waters below.

"The Fire Nation controls the western side of the lake," Suki explained the question on the tip of everyone's tongues. "Rumor had it that they're working on something big on the other side and they don't want anyone to know what it is."

"This is bad," Sokka mumbled worriedly, "They're going to see Appa…"

"I don't know how much it'll help, but I'll see what I can do," Tom said as he moved to the back of the group, right in front of Appa. He did his best to put out as much heat as he could to make a heat shimmer that could break up Appa's outline. It didn't take long for him to realize, "Never mind, this isn't working…"

Perhaps distracted by Tom, or perhaps by just plain bad luck, Ying's husband stepped on a lose part of the cliff. It gave way, starting him on a rather abrupt journey toward the water below. Using some quick earthbending, Toph was able to catch him on a ledge she formed and fling him back up to safety. The part of the ledge that had given way wasn't as lucky as it splash landed in the water. And while that wasn't so much of a problem for said rocks, the fact that they drew the attention of the Fire Navy ship was for everyone else. With Appa partially obscured by the heat shimmer, it took them an extra second to open fire, but they probably had orders to kill anything that moved, so they fired all the same.

Aang was able to deflect the first shot right back at the ship with an impressive display of his airbending, causing it serious damage. Still, it fired off one more shot, this one nearly dead on target. The flaming rock smashed into part of the cliff above them and sending a shower of rubble in Suki's direction. Sokka shoved her out of the way, but now he was in danger of being crushed. Toph saved the day again with her earthbending, creating a ledge that guided the rubble away from Sokka and into the water.

If Sokka was grateful for the rescue, he didn't show it. He ran to Suki with a worried expression. "Suki, are you okay? You have to be more careful!"

"'Thanks for saving my life, Toph.' Hey, no problem, Sokka," Tom heard Toph mumble to herself as he passed her as the group ran for safety. Unfortunately, Appa had to take off and fly for a minute or two as the pass got narrower for the few feet that the group ran as they escaped the now immobile ship.

The group found a rather large area at the top of one of the Serpent's Pass's crests that was big enough for a campsite and far enough away from the ship they had escaped to be safe. This also gave Appa the chance to land for the first time since the escape. The first priority was to check Appa's lag and make sure he didn't reopen the wound. Fortunately, he hadn't, though it was clear he was sore and unhappy from the abrupt takeoff.

With the sun set and the stars beginning their twinkling, everyone settled down and got ready for bed. There were a few shenanigans around camp, mostly involving Sokka and Suki, but Tom didn't really pay them any mind. Everyone was alive and no one had any permanent damage. That was his top priority. With nothing else to do, Tom tried to turn in early. This had the net result of him simply getting to sleep around the same time as everyone else.

The next day was uneventful as they continued their journey through the Serpent's Pass. There weren't any more Fire Navy ships to stumble across and everyone made a point of staying away from the ledges. The only hazard left was boredom and that was survivable. The problem arose when they found a part of the pass that sunk so low that it had disappeared into the lake. It was far enough that you could swim it if you were healthy and athletic enough, though that was cold comfort to the blind girl and pregnant woman.

"Can Appa get them across?" Tom asked, the group looking first to Appa and then to Aang.

"Well, he can't carry everyone. But I bet he'd be okay if we went two at a time," Aang suggested. Then he turned to his furry companion, "What do you think, buddy?" Appa gave a confirmatory roar. "Okay, let's do this."

Ying and her daughter were the first on in the saddle as Appa made his first trip over the gap. It took a pass or two before anyone noticed the long, dark shape that was passing beneath Appa as he slowly and carefully flew. At the third pass, the thing making the shadow surfaced, a massive, green sea serpent. The thing roared a shrieking roar and lunged toward Appa.

"I think I figured out why they call this the Serpent's Pass!" Sokka called out unhelpfully.

Tom, however, was a bit more prepared for action. "Oh no you don't!" He blasted his way up to the thing's gigantic face with a boost from the jets of fire technique and body slammed it, finishing with a flaming kick that pushed him away from its snapping jaws. As much as his kick saved him the immediate retaliation of the monster's jaws, Tom was left with no time or recourse to dodge the next attack, a tail slam that smashed him into the lake below.

The hit was hard enough to make him lose all sense of direction and it even took him a second to register that he was in the water. With the tail slowing in the water, Tom was able to peal himself off it and get free. That still left the problem of being disoriented underwater with the hundred and some odd foot sea serpent he'd just royally pissed off. He tried to look around, but he couldn't figure out which way was up.

Suddenly the water around him seemed to be pushed out of the way and Tom landed on what he assumed to be the lakebed. "Are you okay?!" he heard Katara ask worriedly. Tom looked up to see her reaching out with one hand to help him up and holding the other toward the top of the air bubble she had made for them.

"I'll live," he said accepting the hand up. Before they could even think to do anything else, a shadow passed over them. The monster was swinging around to come after them. "Hold on tight," Tom said. They wrapped their arms around each other and Tom summoned his Pressure Barrier around them both. With another fire jet, they blasted up toward the surface. With the heat from the barrier boiling the water in their way away, they burst to the surface with enough force to send them several feet into the air.

"That was amazing To-!"

"Ice platform please!" Tom said, cutting off Katara's compliment.

She hadn't noticed the momentum petering out, but now she was definitely noticing the sensation of falling. "Oh, right…" Right before they were back in the water, Katara let out a long breath that cause a thick sheet of ice to form on the surface of the lake for them to land on. The ice settled and the two breathed a sigh of relief. "Wow. We make a pretty good team, don't we?"

"I think we make a better team on shore!" Tom said not looking at her. Katara turned around quickly to see the monster had followed them to the surface. With a blast of her waterbending, the ice raft rocketed toward the shore that Appa was dropping Sokka and Suki off on. The monster's attack missed and Aang buzzed it before it could launch a second.

Tom hopped off the ice raft the second he was close enough to shore. "Are you sure you're okay, Tom?" Katara asked quickly, staying on the raft.

Tom gave his side a light pat. "Actually, I'm pretty much fine for once. Just stings a little."

"Good," Katara nodded before turning back toward Aang and the sea serpent. "Aang! Whirlpool!"

Using their waterbending, Aang and Katara created a whirlpool big enough to fit even the giant creature. After a few spins, the monster was flung into the side of one of the pass's taller crests. After that it decided to take its leave.

The rest of the way out of the pass was largely uneventful. The only thing of note was when Suki approached Tom. "So. Firebender, huh?"

"That's not a problem is it?" Tom asked.

"No," Suki said lightly, "It's just surprising. What made you change sides?"

"Change sides indeed," Tom chuckled, "I'm not from the Fire Nation."

"Really?" Suki asked, surprised, "Where from then?"

"It's kind of complicated," Tom answered unhelpfully, "Suffice to say, aside from the moral high ground, I have a vested interest in helping Aang and ending the war."

Suki considered for a moment. "Hmm. Well, you are kind of odd, but if Sokka and the others trust you, I guess I will too."

"I appreciate it."

It was a little past noon when the lake gave way to the solid ground leading up to the Outer Wall of Ba Sing Se. Finally they had made it through. "There's the wall!" Sokka exclaimed, pointing to the structure just barely visible in the distance. "Now it's nothing but smooth sailing to Ba Sing Se!"

Suddenly Ying gasped, "Oh, no!"

"What's wrong?" Sokka asked worriedly.

"The baby's coming!"

The universe hated Sokka a lot. Luckily Katara had helped deliver babies back home, so she knew what to do. With a little help from everyone, the healthy baby girl was born. With that one last hurtle cleared, the path to the wall was clear. Unfortunately, once they got to the wall, Aang and company saw they had one last challenge before they could see the city…

* * *

><p>Yeah, this is what I wanted. I kept getting distracted and am cutting it a little close again, but I don't think I really cut anything from my original plans. Hopefully the next one can be the same. Let me know what the weaknesses are and see you next time.<p> 


	40. A Wish to Protect, part I

I've actually gotten this question a lot and I keep meaning to put the answer in one of these A/Ns, but I keep forgetting. Some people have mentioned that I should try to change the story more or that I should do original story ideas in the place of an episode or two to give Tom even more of a focus. Still others have just straight up asked me if there is going to be a sequel to Dragon Knight. I put these two together because the reason I'm trying to keep the story mostly on track because I plan on doing a minimum of two sequels to Dragon Knight. And that's just to resolve the main thrust of the story, there could be more after that depending on how long it takes me to do this. I've had to mention this a few times to people that have given me reviews (not that I mind, of course, as it's my fault for forgetting to mention it sooner) that I'm trying to keep things recognizable for the purposes for my future stories with this character. Just wanted to get that out there so people would know.

Now on to this next chapter. I'm starting this super ahead of schedule in the hopes of finishing it ahead of schedule. I want the rest of the chapters based on Book 2 to be pretty solid since I want to set up my act three here, as well as some character bits that I haven't really done as well due to my time crunches. This'll probably get polished like everything else when the time comes, but I'm done coping out and saying "I'll fix it later". It was especially clear to me when I cut down the ending of 208 for time. It's actually kind of surprising how few times Azula actually directly confronts Aang and company.

But look at me, I've gone on long enough. I can understand if some people skip this beast since I think it's my longest A/N to date. Let's just get on with what we're all here for.

* * *

><p>The group, now just a little bit bigger, continued toward the grand wall of Ba Sing Se with no further incidents. The way was rocky, but hardly comparable to even the flatter spots of the Serpent's Pass. Things were finally looking up as they did so at the wall from its base for the first time. Even Tom was awestruck at its sheer size. It was much taller than the Great Wall of China, the most impressive wall he had yet seen. With the help of Aang and Toph's earthbending, the entire group was soon treated to a rapid elevator ride to the top.<p>

Unfortunately, the scenery wasn't that appealing on the way up. "What is **that** thing?" Sokka gasped, pointing a truly gigantic, mostly cylindrical machine lumbering toward the wall. It was clear even from the top of the wall that the thing was Fire Nation.

"I think," Tom said as they got to the top of the wall, "that that's the thing the Fire Nation was protecting on their side of the lake."

"I-I think it's a drill," Aang gasped as he looked down at the monstrous thing. "It's a giant drill!"

"We made it to Ba Sing Se and we're still not safe. No one is!" Ying lamented.

Before anyone could do anything to console her, two earthbender soldiers approached the group, "What are you people doing here? Civilians aren't allowed on the wall!"

Aang stepped forward immediately, "I'm the Avatar," he declared, "Take me to whoever's in charge here."

Surprisingly, the soldiers acquiesced immediately and offered to have someone take Ying and her family into the city. It was a strange, but really welcome change of pace that an authority figure didn't start with trying to kill or capture them. Their host was even quite gracious. "It is an honor to welcome you to the Outer Wall, young Avatar. But your help is not needed."

"Not needed?" Aang asked the middle aged general as he casually strolled the enormous wall.

"Not," the general, General Sung, emphasized, "…needed. I assure you the Fire Nation cannot penetrate this wall. Many have tried, but none have succeeded."

"What about the Dragon of the West?" Toph noted casually, "He got in."

General Sung balked at that. "Erm, well… technically yes. But he was _quickly_ expunged." The general took a breath and recovered, "Nevertheless, that's why the city is named 'Ba Sing Se'; it's the 'impenetrable city'. They don't call it 'Na Sing Se'!" The general laughed at what was apparently a hilarious joke. A second later he explained, "That means 'penetrable city'."

Toph was unimpressed, "Thanks for the tour, but we've still got the drill problem."

"Not for long!" the general assured. With a proud stride, he made his way over to a telescope mounted on the outside of the wall. "I've sent an elite group of earthbenders called the 'Terra Team'."

"Wait," Tom mumbled to himself, realizing something for the first time, "Terra is Latin. Is there Latin here?"

The general had his telescope to watch the events unfold, but even with the naked eye, it was fairly easy to make out what was going on. The group of earthbenders blasted their way through the line of tanks escorting the drill. Given the attack the entire platoon levied against the drill literally did nothing, one could wonder why they bothered to have an escort in the first place. The bad news didn't end there, though. After the initial attack failed, two people could be seen sliding off the top of the drill down to the earthbenders. It was impossible to make out any of the features of the newcomers, but you could just barely make out one of them mixing in with the earthbenders. The Terra Team fell quickly after that.

"WE'RE DOOMED!" General Sung lamented loudly, getting a great look at his elite warriors being felled so easily.

Sokka gave him a quick, hard slap, "Get ahold of yourself, man!"

"You're right, I'm sorry."

"Perhaps you'd like the Avatar's help now?" Toph pressed confidently.

The general humbly trudged up to Aang. "Yes, please," he pleaded weakly.

With the general off to collect his fallen warriors, that left Aang and company to plan on what their help would entail. "So the question is, how are we going to stop that thing?" Aang asked, voicing what was on everyone's mind.

Sokka noticed everyone's eyes turn right to him. "Why are you all looking at me?"

"You're the idea guy," Aang said, sounding like he was stating the obvious.

"What about Tom?" Sokka asked, pointing at the quiet firebender, "I bet he's come up with a plan!"

"You want to hear my plan?" Tom asked, Sokka nodding fervently in response. "Okay. My plan… is to follow Sokka's plan."

"Oh, come on!" Sokka griped, "I know you can come up with something! You're just doing this to mess with me, aren't you?"

"That's absolutely correct," Tom said with a droll smile, returning Toph's fist bump.

"Nice."

Sokka didn't share the positive sentiment. "I'm the 'idea guy', huh? So, what, does that mean I'm the _only_ one who can come up with a plan?! That's a lot of pressure!"

"You're also the complaining guy," Katara supplied unhelpfully.

Sokka actually seemed to calm down at that comment, "That part I don't mind…"

Ironically, it was actually Ty Lee, one of Azula's friends, that provided the inspiration needed for Sokka to come up with his plan. When the "Terra Team" was brought back in from the field, they were revealed to be completely helpless despite being outwardly undamaged. Once one of the soldiers gave a description of the person who attacked them, Katara knew exactly who she was. "She doesn't look dangerous," Katara said, "but she knows the human body and its weak points. It's like she takes you down from the inside…"

Sokka started jumping around as inspiration struck, "That's how we're going to take down the drill! The same way Ty Lee took down all these big earthbenders!"

"By hitting its pressure points!" Toph elaborated, having quickly caught on.

"We'll take it down from the inside," Aang finished as they all looked down at the looming vehicle.

"See? I knew my plan would work," Tom noted, earning a glare from Sokka.

The group made their way down to ground level to get to the drill itself. The small trenches that the Terra Team had used were still there, so they used them as cover to get closer to the drill without the crew of the giant thing noticing. "Once I whip up some cover, you're not going to be able to see, so stay close to me," Toph warned. She hopped up from the trench and blasted the ground before her, causing a huge cloud of dust. The cloud was big enough to get them into the shadow of the vehicle. Toph opened up a hole in the ground to tunnel under the drill and find a way inside.

Once they came up under it, they saw a series of openings that they could use to get in. Aang hopped up to one and helped lift up first Katara, than Sokka, and finally Tom. He waited for Toph, but she stayed where she was. Sokka stuck his head back down when she didn't come, "Toph, come on."

"No way am I going in that metal monster," she replied, "I can't bend in there! I'll try to slow it down from out here."

That was enough for Aang and Sokka, "Okay, good luck."

The group took a quick look around the area they were in. Most of the place consisted of metal tubes of various sizes, many with valves on them. "I need a plan of this machine," Sokka said as he looked for any weakness to exploit.

"Where are we going to find something like that?" Sokka's response was to draw his machete and smash one of the valves. It broke off and the room started filling with steam.

"Great. Now we'll never get Half-Life 3…" Tom mumbled to himself.

"What are you doing?!" Aang demanded as the room got cloudier, "Someone's going to hear us!"

"That's the point," Sokka smiled. He saw Aang and Katara's unconvinced looks and decided to explain, "I figure a machine this big needs engineers to run it. And when something breaks…"

"They come to fix it!" Katara finished. They all found little crevices within the room to hide in. It was filled with nooks and crannies that made perfect hiding places with the steam for cover. It only took about a minute for an engineer to show up to the broken valve. Once he passed the group, Katara popped out and used the steam to cover the engineer in a layer of ice. "Hi."

"This'll work. Thanks!" Sokka said as he grabbed a piece of parchment out of the man's hands and ran off with the others. In another room, Sokka unfurled the schematics and looked them over. After a moment of thought, he spoke, "It looks like the drill is made up of two main structures. There's the inner mechanism where we are now, and the outer shell. The inner part and the outer part are connected by these braces," he said, pointing them out on the detailed diagram, "If we cut through them, the entire thing will collapse." No one saw a flaw in his logic, so they all set out for the outer shell.

With the guidance of the stolen schematics, they were able to find their way to the shell of the drill. "It looks a lot thicker in person than it does in the plans…" Sokka sighed as they walked up to it. "We're going to have to work pretty hard to cut through that."

"What's all this 'we' stuff?" Katara asked, "Aang and I are going to have to do all the work!"

"Hold on a sec," Tom said, walking up to the brace, "Let me see if I can just melt through it or something. That'd be pretty quick."

"Oh, no you don't," Katara said, catching him by the shoulder.

"What?"

"Every time you do something like that you end up getting hurt or passing out or something," Katara told him, "Just let Aang and I take care of this."

Tom was taken aback by that comment for a moment, "Excuse me?! I'm not some delicate flower! I'm pretty sure I can take a piece of metal in a fight."

"Oh really, Mr. Gorilla-Ox? Then why did you cook your palms last time you 'took on a piece of metal'?"

"What? That one tank? That was forever ago!"

"That's not the point!"

"Guys!" Aang shouted over the argument, "We don't have time to argue. If Tom heats up the metal red hot, me and Katara can cool it down to make it more brittle. That's probably the fastest way to get through this thing. What do you say?"

"Well… alright," Katara agreed after a moment.

"I still don't see the point in doing this the hard way," Tom said, mostly to himself. Katara gave him a sharp jab to the ribs and shot him a death glare. Knowing it was an argument he wouldn't win, Tom sighed, "But fine."

Knowing quenching the brace after it was heated up would evaporate the water they had, Katara went back in to the inner mechanism while Tom heated up the brace to find some extra water to expend. When she got back, Tom was starting to leave an impression on the metal as he heated it up. "Tom!" she more scolded than anything else, "That's enough." He grumbled, but backed off all the same. After quenching the brace and getting rid of the extra steam, Katara and Aang started slashing at the side of the brace with rapid passes of water. It wasn't like a water jet, but it still sliced enough to make visible headway with each pass.

Even with the brace weakened, it still took a good fifteen or twenty minutes to get all the way through it. With a last few hard strikes, the brace finally was cut in two. Unfortunately, it only slid about four inches from its place.

"At this rate we won't do enough damage before the drill reaches the wall…" Katara said as she tried to catch her breath.

"Well, melting through it _would_ go pretty fast," Tom suggested.

"Drop it, Tom," Katara growled back.

It took a second, but the entire drill started to rumble and groan. "You hear that? We took it down!" Sokka declared in a rare moment of optimism. "We'd better get out of here!"

They only got a few steps before someone's voice started echoing through the structure's rudimentary PA system. "Congratulations, crew! The drill has made contact with the wall of Ba Sing Se! Start the countdown to **victory**!"

"And still no Half-Life 3," Tom sighed. "Sad."

* * *

><p>Wow. I lost a week and a day there somewhere. I knew I was going to stop it here, so this is exactly what I wanted. I think this is a pretty good one, but the important part is next chapter. Hopefully I can start it before Friday next week. One can only hope.<p> 


	41. A Wish to Protect, part II

I am NOT doing this to myself after I worked so far ahead on the last one. I'm going to get this done on time and I'm going to get this done right! Like I said last time, this is a pretty important. And since I finally finished E.Ψ.Ǝ.: Divine Cybermancy earlier this evening, I'll have one less distraction (sort of) going forward.

* * *

><p>"This is what you get for being optimistic, Sokka," Tom said calmly as the Water Tribe warrior uselessly pushed against the giant brace. "Don't go messing with the natural order."<p>

"This is bad," Katara breathed, ignoring both Tom and her brother, choosing to stay focused on their situation.

After another second, Sokka gave up on his fruitless efforts, "We're putting everything we've got into busting these braces, but it's taking too long!"

"I know what would make it go faster…" Tom mumbled. Katara gave him a growl and a cross look, making the firebender shrug irritably and take a step out of the conversation

Aang perked up, striking inspiration. "Maybe we don't have to cut all the way through… Toph has been teaching me that you shouldn't put all of your energy into any one strike. Sokka, take a fighting stance." Sokka did so, taking up a boxing-like form that wasn't overly stable, but (unbeknownst to him) would prove the point just fine. "You've got to be quick and accurate," he said, as he started breaking Sokka's stance with some footwork and a few light jabs. "Break your opponent's stance, and when he's reeling back, you deliver the final blow." With that, Aang gave Sokka a light wack on the head that caused him to drop to the floor, "His own weight becomes his downfall. Literally!"

"So, we just need to weaken the braces, instead of cutting all the way through," Katara said, catching on to the plan.

"Then I'll go to the top of this thing and deliver the final blow!" Aang finished.

"…and then, using multi-modal reflection sorting…" Tom mumbled to himself.

"What was that?" Aang asked.

"Nothing," Tom said lightly, heading back into the inner mechanism to head to the next brace, "Let's go bust some braces, yay team."

"See, that's more of what Team Avatar needs! More enthusiasm!" No one could really tell if Sokka was serious or not, but they all carried on regardless. With new purpose and much less brace to cut through, the group made their way through dozens of braces on either side of the machine. There were quite a few close calls as they had to damage braces on both sides and the inner mechanism was filled with engineers, but they managed to do their damage undetected.

They had damaged braces along almost a full section of the drill after a little over an hour. It was tiring work, but the rush of adrenalin from defeat being so close kept them working. By the time they had gotten through most of the braces in one section of the drill's segmented body, Tom started watching the area around them with his bow at the ready. Eventually the crew of the drill would take notice and retaliate; it was only a matter of time. He caught a glimpse of movement on an area above them. Azula only took two steps out from the inner mechanism before she had to dodge one of Tom's arrows.

"It's Azula and her friends!" Sokka exclaimed as he ducked Azula's counter attack.

Tom fired off another shot that forced her and Mai back into the cover of the inner mechanism, "Finnish that brace and get back inside!" Tom said as he did his best to pin the deadly trio down. It only took about twenty more seconds before Aang and Katara finished the brace and started back toward the inner mechanism. Sokka and to were right behind them, both just barely avoiding the barrage of knives and flames that began as soon as Tom's arrows stopped.

The group traveled deeper into the drill, Azula hot on their heels. At a T intersection, Aang stopped and pointed down a hall that led towards where they had gotten in. "Guys, get out of here! I know what I need to do!"

"Wait," Katara called to him, "You need this water more than I do!" Katara tossed him her water skin which he caught.

"I'm going with you," Tom said, following Aang down his corridor. Aang gave him a questioning look as they started down the long hall. "Azula's going to be right behind us. I'll take care of her while you bring down the drill."

"Okay, let's do it."

Aang, literally running like the wind, outpaced Tom as they headed toward the top of the drill. The closer they got toward the front and the higher they got, the more engineers they saw. Still, they were all working on something, so with no guards, both Aang and Tom were able to make it to the top without encountering resistance. Obviously, no one on the design team for the monstrosity ever thought about intruders as there were no doors to lock or even to close to slow down intruders.

By the time Tom got to the top of the ladder that led to the highest part of the drill (other than the bridge), he saw that Aang was already hard at work cutting into the shell. "How's it going?" Tom called from the other side of the barrage of boulders being tosses uselessly at the drill from atop the wall.

"I'm making progress," Aang strained as he remained focused on the task before him, "But I need more time!"

"Don't worry, I've got you covered!" Tom turned back to the back end of the drill. It wouldn't take Azula long to catch up with them. Tom wasn't necessarily any faster than she was, so she'd be right behind him. Sure enough, Azula hoisted herself up from the ladder to the top of the drill about a minute later.

"Hello again, my knight," Azula said, smiling as she approached Tom, "We really have to stop meeting like this. It's dangerous to get in my way. It'd be a shame if something happened to you."

Tom smiled back at her, getting into a fighting stance, "I don't know, I seem to be holding out just fine."

Azula chuckled as she readied herself for battle, "How naive. I guess you haven't learned your lesson yet." She rushed at Tom, tossing two fingered fire darts his way as she approached. They were hard to dodge, due to their speed, but Tom managed. When Azula closed in she tried a high kick, but this was much easier to dodge. The attack was frighteningly powerful, but much slower.

Tom took the chance to counter attack there. Azula was still recovering from her kick, so Tom punched at her exposed side. The attack looked perfect, but the strike and flames that followed only met empty space. Azula had already leaned out of the way and readying her counterattack. Tom leaned away from her fire blasts and tried to sweep her feet out from under her with a jet of flame. Azula jumped over the attack and flipped over Tom's head. Knowing her real target was Aang, Tom felt safe in delivering a slower, but very powerful kick to Azula's side. Having turned her back on Tom, she didn't see it in time and the blow knocked her off her feet. She got up right away, though.

"I guess you're just as rude as your brother," Tom said, waiting for her counter. "It's not polite to turn your back on your opponent. Very unbecoming of a princess."

"Oh, you're right," Azula agreed lightly, "It was impolite of me not to give you my undivided _attention_!" Azula blasted another combination of fast but light and slow but powerful attacks at Tom. Some of them were way too close for comfort, at least partially being blocked by his Pressure Barrier. After Azula's attack was weathered, Tom hit back with fire blasts of his own. Azula was able to avoid them, but they too got surprisingly close. "Well, well. Now you've _really_ got my attention. I could almost mistake you for having Royal blood."

Tom shrugged in his fighting stance, "Well, I don't think being born into money and influence makes you a better fighter, but I guess I can't really complain about that sort of thing."

"It's a pity I have to kill you," Azula said honestly. Come to think of it, that was probably the most sincere sounding thing Tom had ever heard her say. "It doesn't have to be that way, you know. Think of what you and I could do together. Side by side. Besides, isn't the 'knight' supposed to protect the princess?"

"Sorry, but I've already got a princess…"

Azula shrugged herself and sighed, "Have it your way." In the blink of an eye, she was on him. Tom barely blocked the flurry of attacks Azula sent at him. Every time Tom thought there was going to be a break in the attack another strike came. Tom didn't even see the hit coming when Azula's knee slammed into his side. The kick she sent at his head probably would have knocked him out cold had he not barely blocked it. Tom struck back with a punch of his own, but Azula was able to back away from it. "Once again, you impress me. That was supposed to break your ribs, but it looks like I underestimated you."

Tom gripped his throbbing, stinging side. "Great," he mumbled to himself, "she's turning into Freeza. I know how this fight goes…"

Azula lead off the exchange again, but this time Tom seemed to vanish in the heat and setting sun. "Oh, no you don't," Azula told herself. She caught a glimpse of movement trying to get past her and knocked Tom out of his dash with a wide chop, hitting him in the throat. While he staggered back from that hit, Azula slammed him in his already damaged side with a strong kick. Tom couldn't do anything but stumble back. "Hmm, still no broken ribs. It really is too bad you won't come to your senses and join me. You're quite the fighter."

"So are you, though that's no surprise," Tom admitted, "You leave me no choice but to use my ultimate technique!"

Azula raised a skeptical eyebrow. "You're 'ultimate technique'? And what might that be?"

Tom smiled as he answered; "Kaio-Ken!"

"Kaio-what?"

In spite of the joke, there was nothing funny about what happened next. Before Azula even had the chance to see it coming, a flaming punch slammed into her, sending her flying. Using the flames around his body to propel him through the air, Tom rushed past the reeling Azula to slam her in the back of her head with his elbow. The hit stopped her forward momentum and Tom took the opportunity to club Azula into the ground with his fists. Despite the savage attack, Azula was far from down and out. She used her position on the ground to put extra power into another kick. Tom back flipped away, kicking Azula in the back as he moved.

The two combatants ended up pretty far away from each other. Tom let the flames around him disappear the instant his last blow landed, not wanting to waist any more of his strength than he absolutely needed to. He was breathing really heavily and each gasp shot a new wave of pain through the side that Azula had targeted. "It worked!" Tom gasped, "The TFS gag actually worked! This is the greatest day of my life!"

For all of the pounding she had just taken, it only a second or two for her to pick herself up. "Well, unfortunately for you," she half spoke half growled as she dusted herself off, "this is also going to be the _last_ day of your life."

"Oh, come on!" Tom complained as he still tried to catch his breath, "What is she even made out of?"

Things went from bad to worse as he saw Azula start to charge up a lightning attack. His options against an attack that powerful were severely limited, but fortunately for him, he didn't have to counter the attack at all as a flurry of rocks peppered Azula and forced her to abandon the attack.

Aang stepped up next to Tom, clearly fresh and ready to fight. "I can't deliver the final blow on the drill with Azula still here," Aang explained, "We'll take her down together!"

"I'd like to say I can finish this on my own, but I think the righting's on the walls," Tom sighed.

The three combatants readied their fighting stances and Azula charged. Just before the fight could begin, something hit Tom and Aang from behind hard enough to push them forward. Mud from the slurry pipes in the drill was gushing out the front of the machine; Katara and Toph must have been plugging the drain with their bending.

With Aang and Tom being pushed forward and the slippery ground preventing Azula from stopping, the three slammed into each other and began sliding off the drill in different directions. With no way to hold on, Tom could only try to land on his feet. He did… sort of, though he ended up with a facefull of mud when his legs buckled and he collapsed in the expanding puddle.

Now he knew it was all up to Aang. And frankly, he knew of no one better equipped for it. Aang was able to deliver the final blow to the drill, though the drill ended up spewing wave of mud in every direction, one of which washed away Tom. He lifted himself up from the puddle he finally settled in to see the drill was indeed destroyed. "Yay… Go team…" he mumbled to himself before flopping back down into the mud.

Thanks to Katara and Toph's bending, once the Fire Nation troops had been driven away and everyone was back on the wall, it was easy to clean all the mud off everyone. With the sun already dipped below the peeks in the distance, it was decided that they would head to the city proper in the morning. General Sung gave them an entire barracks to themselves, even after Aang insist they don't need to trouble them so.

It was late and Katara noticed Tom staring out of the window of the barracks at the now derelict and abandoned drill. "Hey, Tom…"

"Come to say 'I told you so'?" he grumbled, still staring off into space.

Katara put her hands on her hips and gave him a cross look. "Come on, Tom. Does that really sound like something I'd do?"

The firebender sighed. "I guess not. Sorry."

"It's okay," she said, sitting next to him, "I think we both let the stress get the better of us." She put a hand on his shoulder to get him to look at her, "And you know I only worry because I care, don't you?"

"… …Yeah."

With a better look at him, she could see he had a stormy look on his face. "What's wrong?" she asked kindly, "You can tell me."

"I… I lost. Again!" Tom growled, though more at himself than anyone else. "I keep losing to those two and I don't know why!"

"You mean Azula and Zuko?" she asked. Tom nodded and she gave him a comforting smile, "Well, they've been firebending their whole lives. I know you'll catch up." Tom started to say something, but Katara cut him off right away, "Listen, I know you have what it takes to be the best firebender there is. You just have to give it time. You're a patient guy, just keep up the good work."

"That's nice of you to say, but…"

"It's the truth!" she said forcefully, catching him off guard. "You're one of the strongest and smartest people I know, Tom. You've come so far almost completely on your own. You should be proud of yourself. Besides, there's no way we would have been able to damage so many braces without you. And Aang said he wouldn't have been able to cut deep enough into the drill's shell to deliver the final blow. We couldn't have done it without you."

"…"

"Listen, get some sleep," Katara said with a smile, "You're going to need to be at full strength when you meet Azula next time."

"I… Thanks, Katara."

"Anytime."

* * *

><p>I am so super glad I started ahead. If I started that with only a few hours to work on it I probably would have cut half that fight and that entire ending scene. And the fight and the ending scene is the whole point of this chapter. I hope I'm not being too subtle or too heavy-handed with this. I honestly don't know, it might be either way.<p>

Well, only one more hurdle to overcome. My ISP is made of suck, so my internet is down right now. It had better be fixed by tomorrow, or Imma rise hell.

-One Tomorrow Later-

Aaaand, it's official. My internet held together with scotch tape and failure. I'm actually uploading this from McDonalds WiFi because I'm NOT missing my deadline so help me. The things I do for this deadline of mine…


	42. A Wish to Meet, part I

I really was dumb about this. I said I wasn't going to do last minute updates since this is so important, but here I am. I suppose it could be much worse, but I'm not happy about it. Still, I know what I'm going to do and as long as I buckle down and get it done, everything should be fine. I am DOOMED!

* * *

><p>The train ride to the city was blissfully uneventful as Aang and company made their way to the city within the wall they had just defended. Needless to say, Appa was too big for the train car, so he had to get to the city another way. Aang decided that that he needed some exercise and that he was healed enough to make it to the city by flying. That meant Aang was going to be flying to the city with Appa while the rest of the group took the train.<p>

Katara was the first in the train to notice the approaching city, "Look! The inner wall!" While the inner wall wasn't nearly as big or impressive as the titanic outer wall, it was clear that such a structure would have been impossible without the help of many earthbenders. It would only be a minute or two before they pulled into the city proper and finally got a look at it. "I can't believe we made it to Ba Sing Se in one piece."

"Hey, don't jinx it," Sokka warned. "We could still be attacked by an exploding Fire Nation spoon. Or enter the city to find it's been flooded with an ocean full of killer shrimp."

Nobody knew quite what to make of that statement, so Toph spoke up, "You been hitting the cactus juice again?"

"I'm just sayin', weird stuff happens to us." As if to affirm Sokka's comment, a large man sucking on an ear of corn decided to sit down between Sokka and Toph, uncomfortably pushing them aside.

"The real problem we're going to be having is getting an audience with the king," Tom spoke up, ignoring the large corn enthusiast. "Even if we're with the Avatar, they'd have no reason to trust a bunch of kids with the military."

"I say we cross that bridge when we come to it," Sokka returned, getting up and finding a new seat.

"You mean _if_ we come to it," Toph countered, "News flash, my family is probably the most influential in the whole Earth Kingdom and I've never even seen the Earth King."

"There's no point in assuming failure before you've even tried," Tom replied calmly.

"Tom's right," Katara added, "We should at least try to get the Earth King's support after coming all the way here."

Finally they entered the tunnel in the inner wall that led into the true city of Ba Sing Se and the first thing they saw as the stone walls passed by was the city's sheer size of all of it. There weren't many factories around the visible, but the number of roofs was awe-inspiring. It truly justified it's prominence on the map. Its size on maps wasn't exaggerated one bit. In some ways it felt endless.

The train and Appa both stopped in the train station at about the same time and the two groups met back up after their temporary split.

"Back in the city…" Toph grumbled, "Great."

"What's the problem? It's amazing!" Sokka said, still looking at the stunning sight.

"It's just a bunch of walls and rules," Toph answered. "Just wait. You'll get sick of it in a couple of days."

Suddenly a woman, about twenty-five years old or so, approached them from seemingly out of nowhere. She had black hair in a simple, modest style, a pale lime green dress, and a smile so plastered on it made you wonder how she ate.

"Hello, my name is Joo Dee. I have been given the honor to show the Avatar around our wonderful city," the woman introduced in a forced sweet tone. "And you must be Sokka, Katara, Toph and Tom. Welcome to our wonderful city. Shall we get started?"

"Yes," Sokka said immediately, "We have important information about the Fire Nation army that we need to deliver to the king right away."

"Great, let's begin our tour. And then I'll show you to your home here. I really think you'll like it," Joo Dee said without skipping a beat or shifting her tone.

Sokka was flabbergasted at first, but pressed on anyway. "Maybe you didn't hear me. We need to talk to the king about the war. It's important!"

"You're in Ba Sing Se now. Everyone is safe here." Joo Dee replied in the same pseudo-sugary tone, but this time she added in a bit more force behind it. The group made it down from the elevated train station to a carriage waiting for them at the ground level. A few seconds after they arrived, a cage big enough to hold Appa was carried out by two guards. "If you would be so kind as to guide your pet into this cage so that we may transport it safely to your new house."

"That is _not_ happening, "Aang warned, stepping between Joo Dee and Appa. The others also got in the way."

"You are expressly forbidden from allowing a pet roam free in the streets," Joo Dee once again adding a little power to prove her point. However, Appa countered that point with a roar so loud the near side of the lower ring stopped to try to see what caused the disturbance. "O-on second thought, perhaps an exception can be made seeing as you're the Avatar, I suppose an exception can be made here…" With that their tour began, starting with the lower ring (with Appa lumbering along behind the carriage), "This is the lower ring."

"What's that wall for?" Katara asked, noting what seemed to be another inner wall.

"Oh, Ba Sing Se has many walls," Joo Dee explained, "There are the ones outside to protect us and the ones inside to maintain order. This is where our new arrivals live. As well as our craftsmen and artisans. People who work with their hands. It's so quaint and lively." The carriage than passed an alleyway that had two men admiring a particularly deadly looking scimitar. "You do want to watch your step, though."

"Why do they have all these poor people walled off in one part of the city?" Katara asked as they passed scenes of various states of poverty.

"This is why I never came here," Aang admitted, "I always heard it was so different from the way the monks taught us to live…"

The tour moved on to the middle ring. This was the shortest part of the tour in spite of rushing through the lower ring as quickly as possible, since the middle ring wasn't that big. All the while, Sokka tried to get through to the apparently thick headed Joo Dee, who made a point of redirecting every question asked to be about the city and everyone's apparent love for it.

Finally they reached the deepest part of the city. "The upper ring is home to our most important citizens. Your house is not too far from here."

Along the way to their house, they passed yet another wall. Katara again asked about it, "What's inside that wall?"

"And who are the mean-looking guys in robes?" her brother added.

"Inside is the royal palace. Those men are agents of the Dai Li; the cultural guardians of Ba Sing Se," Joo Dee helpfully explained.

"Can we see the king now?" Aang asked out of the blue.

"Oh, no," Joo Dee said with a polite chuckle, "One does not just pop in on the Earth King!" Finally they disembarked at a cozy little one story house near a park. It had more than enough rooms for all of them and plenty of space for Appa. "Here we are, your new home." A messenger ran up to Joo Dee and handed her a scroll as Aang and the others were climbing the front steps of their new abode. "More good news," Joo Dee beamed, "Your request for an audience with the Earth King is being processed and should be put through in about a month."

"A month?!" Sokka gasped.

"Six to eight weeks, actually."

"That's two months," Tom pointed out.

"Give or take."

"Ugh…"

* * *

><p>Oh, wow. The sleep deprivation almost got me about a dozen times there. This wasn't my best and it isn't what I wanted to do strictly speaking, but I'm okay with it. This may be riddled with typos, but those can be polished up later. Hopefully next time I can start ahead like I want to. We'll see.<p> 


	43. A Wish to Meet, part II

And, no. I didn't start ahead. I really hate it when I do this but it can't be helped now. Moreover, I split the last chapter, so this one should be a fairly quick one. I hope I can get out of this what I want, though length may be an issue. We'll see.

* * *

><p>With nothing else to help them with, Joo Dee told the group that she'd be by with their lunch and dinner after that and to call her if they wanted to see any of the city's sights. It sounded just like any of the other sugary sweet things Joo Dee had been spouting all morning, but like a few of the little things she had said in the beginning, it was pretty clear to the sharp eared that the offer to chaperone wasn't a courteous suggestion.<p>

For the first time since they had arrived at the outer wall, they were alone. The house they had been given was truly a nice one. It was clear that even if they were going to be stuck here for a month or two, they would at least be comfortable. The house consisted of one large central room with a foyer and a cozy living room right behind it. Off to the corners were the bedrooms holding several bunk beds each and other rooms holding various amenities behind them.

It was definitely a nice house in the safest city in the world. But even the safest city had almost fallen just yesterday. They had a mission they needed to complete, and it wouldn't be done until they met with the Earth King. "So now what do we do?" Sokka griped after they had unpacked all of their belongings.

"What can we do?" Aang asked as he came in from the back yard after tending to Appa, "I think we just have to wait and get our audience with the Earth King."

"Or we could just go see him now," Toph suggested. Everyone looked at her quizzically. "It doesn't matter that the palace is behind some wall, we have Appa!"

"I don't know…" Aang worried out loud.

"I think that should be our last resort if it comes to that," Tom spoke up, "If we go into the palace from the air without permission, the guards might see it as an attack."

"And Appa is only just recovering. If we do have to fly in like that, it'd be better if we wait for Appa to be completely healthy first," Katara added.

"I agree. So that means we have at least a couple of days before we can even think about doing anything rash," Aang said.

"Well then I'm out of ideas," Sokka sighed.

"Ditto," Toph agreed.

"Well, the best thing to do would be to try to get in the King's good graces," Tom thought out loud, "It'd be a lot easier to get inside the palace if we were invited by the King himself."

"How do we do that?" Katara asked.

"Best thing I can think of is to just talk to people and try to get to know someone the King is on a first name basis with. Toph, do you know anybody that might have an in with the King?"

"Yeah, I don't really know any of my parent's friends," Toph said nonchalantly, "You know, 'cause, helpless little blind girl. Too embarrassing to show off in public."

Tom recoiled, cursing himself for forgetting that detail, "Er, sorry…"

The earthbender just shrugged, "'Sokay. Besides, I don't think there's anyone that close to the Earth King at all. Like I said before, if anyone would be that close to the King, it'd be my family. And we're not."

"Still, I think it's worth a shot," Sokka said, "It's not like we can do anything else for now."

"Should we call Joo Dee?" Aang asked.

"Actually, I get the feeling she's just here to keep us from messing with the city," Tom said.

"Yeah," Sokka agreed, "I got that vibe from her too."

"But didn't we just say we _weren't_ going to break rules right away?" Katara noted.

Tom just shrugged, "This isn't one that'll get us tried for treason. Besides, it's better to ask for forgiveness than permission."

"I like the sound of that!" Toph cheered as she popped up and headed for the door.

As much as Aang and Katara weren't as keen on the idea, they couldn't really fault the logic, so they went along with it. The day was then spent trying to get to know as many people as possible. One thing became immediately clear as they met more and more citizens in the upper ring; there was more to the city than met the eye. Everyone seemed friendly at first, but they all quickly clammed up at the mention of certain things. The war, the Earth King, the Dai Lee, they seemed to be topics that scared people silent. They didn't make any real progress, but they definitely learned a lot about the city itself.

They all arrived back at their house before the sun set that evening, all sharing their lack of luck in terms of finding anyone with an in with the king. They were about to go inside when Sokka noticed their neighbor across the road peeking out the window of his door at them. "Hey, come with me." The others followed Sokka to the door where he knocked.

A middle aged man opened it with a smile only slightly less plastered on than Joo Dee's, "You're the Avatar," he said to Aang, "I heard you were in town. I'm Pong."

"Nice to meet you, Pong," Aang greeted politely.

"So Pong," Sokka asked, "what's going on with this city? Why is everyone here so scared to talk about the war?"

"War? Scared? What do you mean?" Pong asked. He tried to look calm, but apparently he was a pretty bad liar.

"I can feel you shaking," Toph noted passively.

"I can _see_ you shaking," Tom added.

Pong dropped the facade and spoke honestly, "Look, I'm just a minor government official. I've waited three years to get this house. I don't want to get into any trouble."

"Get into trouble with who?" Katara asked.

Pong shushed her and leaned in to speak more quietly, "Listen, you can't mention the war here. And whatever you do, stay away from the Dai Lee." With that he quickly shut the door and disappeared from the window.

With nothing else to do, the group decided to call it a day and spend the rest of it relaxing. The next morning, everyone woke up rested for the first time in a long time after a rare day of peace. Katara went out to get the newspaper from the mailbox and returned with it and a smile, "I know how we're going to see the Earth King!"

"How are we supposed to do that?" Toph grumbled. She put on Joo Dee's fake smile, "One doesn't just pop in on the Earth King!"

"The King is having a party tonight at the palace for his pet bear," Katara read from the paper she held.

"You mean platypus bear?" Aang asked.

"No," Katara said, looking at the notice again, "it just sais 'bear'."

"It's a grizzly bear," Tom spoke up.

"Sounds friendly," Sokka joked.

"It's basically like a platypus bear, but with a short muzzle instead of a bill and a stubby little furry tail," Tom explained.

There was a pause before Toph spoke up, "This place is weird…"

"The palace will be packed," Katara said, getting right back to the point, "We can sneak in with the crowd!"

"Won't work," Toph immediately dismissed.

"Why not?"

"Well, no offense to you simple country folk, but a real society crowd would spot you a mile away. You've got no manners."

"Excuse me? You're not exactly 'lady fancy fingers'," Katara returned. Toph made a point of burping at that moment.

"I learned proper society behavior and _chose_ to leave it," Toph said, tossing a half eaten pastry aside, "You never learned anything. And frankly, it's a little too late."

"But you learned it!" Sokka said, "You could teach us!"

"Yeah, I'm mastering every element. How hard could manners be?" Aang asked, grabbing some drapes and using them as a cape.

Sokka did the same and they were largely ignored as the two of them goofed off. "I think I've been underestimated," Tom said, "How do you know I'm not sufficiently cultured?"

Toph raised an eyebrow for a moment, "Yeah, I suppose you do have a _bit_ of that upper crust feel to you. And now that I think about it, Katara could probably pull it off with a little guidance." She chuckled as she glanced over at Aang and Sokka smash their heads together as they tried to out bow each other. "Though those two would probably be lucky to pass as bus boys."

"We should also probably have fake names ready too," Tom added, "If people know Aang is here, they might know our names as the Avatar's friends."

The rest of the day was spent with Toph teaching Katara everything she needed to know about proper Earth Kingdom society behavior, as well as giving Tom some pointers on Earth Kingdom customs he should know. That evening the three of them got dressed for the party and got ready to head to the party. "We'll get in the party and let you in through the side gate," they told Sokka and Aang as they left.

They made a point of not being the first in line, letting a few dozen groups line up ahead of them before they joined in. It took a few minutes, but eventually their turn came up. "Invitation, please."

"I think this will do," Toph said, flashing her family seal that she used to get the tickets for the ferry they never used.

Unfortunately, the guard was not impressed, "No entry without an invitation."

"Look," Toph said strongly, "the Pangs and the Yum Soon Hans are waiting in there for us. I'm going to have to tell them who didn't let me in."

"Step out of line, please," the guard ordered.

There wasn't really anything they could do, so they had to acquiesce. As they walk away, they noticed someone pull up in an important carriage. He headed for the gate and was going to forgo the line, so Katara decided to approach him. "Sir, sorry to bother you, but my cousin lost our invitations," she leaned in to whisper the next part, "She's blind. Do you think you could help us? Our families are inside and I'm sure they're worried about us."

"It would be my honor," the man in dark green robes said. He seemed to be somewhere in or near his forties, but looked very spry and healthy, not a gray hair to be seen in his long braid or thin mustache and goatee. The gold trim in his robes and his regal posture signified his status.

The four made it inside, the guard not questioning the man who led the three youngsters, and they entered the palace ballroom. It was grand, with hanging lanterns from its seemingly endless ceiling and art covering its vast walls. In the center of the room was a massive dinner table, with a grizzly bear in a little outfit chowing down on every piece of food placed anywhere near him. Hundreds of people, all dressed to match the luxurious setting, mingled around the huge room.

"Magnificent, isn't it?" their escort asked, as he looked around with pride. "By the way, I'm Long Feng. I'm a cultural minister to the King."

"I'm Jua Mai," Katara introduced, "And my cousin is Hui."

Tom couldn't help but smile a little at what Toph would have been introduced as had he not been there. "And my name is Shi Zhi. It's a pleasure."

"The pleasure is all mine," Long Feng insisted. "Now where is your family? I'd love to meet them."

Katara looked around for a moment, "I don't see them right now, but I'm sure we'll find them soon."

The three of them tried to walk off, but Long Feng appeared in front of them again. "Don't worry. As your escort, it would be dishonorable to abandon you children without finding your families first. We'll keep looking." He turned to do so, but Tom smiled and nodded to Katara and Toph. "My, it seems a little warm in here doesn't it?" A second later, Long Feng sensed his companions weren't following him and he turned around only to see a vague blur disappearing somewhere into the crowd. Tom could only imagine the look on his face, taking special joy in duping him since he knew the kind of person Long Feng really was.

Finally in the clear, Katara, Tom, and Toph looked around for the side entrance, finding it after a little while. They met up with Sokka and Aang who had already donned waiter outfits as disguises. However, as soon as they rejoined the party, Joo Dee appeared from the crowd.

"What are you doing here? You have to leave immediately or we'll all be in terrible trouble!" She tried to push Sokka towards the door, but he used the try he had been holding as part of his disguise to stop her.

"We're not leaving until we see the King!"

"You don't understand," she insisted, "you must go!"

She shoved Sokka again, this time hard enough to make him bump into Aang. Aang almost lost control of the tea pot he was holding, but Tom held the lid on and kept it from spilling. "We're not leaving. But if you don't go, we'll make a scene. I'm pretty sure that'll end worse for you than for us."

"I'm sorry, but I can't let you do that. Please leave!" She was still shoving Sokka who ended up grabbing Momo's tail, which had been sticking out of Aang's hat like a braid. That caused Momo to freak out and fly into a few people, causing them to panic at the sudden attack.

"Sorry," Aang called out, "My bad. I'll get him." Aang had to use his airbending to catch up with the swift lemur and he lost his disguise in the process, causing the partygoers to start to murmur and Joo Dee's plastered on smile to finally fall.

"You keep their attention while I look for the King," Sokka whispered to his friend. It wasn't that hard for the young Avatar to stay the center of attention. With his charm and a little bit of his air and waterbending, he had the entire ballroom totally enthralled. And the King's bear too!

After just a minute or two of that, a palanquin was walked out with its rider hidden behind a vail. Tom knew what was about to happen next and readied himself to retaliate, but the Dai Lee had already grabbed Toph and Katara before he even noticed. With no real warning, he got nabbed by the stone gloves of one of the agents too and was escorted to the dimly lit, green tinted library. Long Feng and Aang soon followed those who were invited less than cordially.

"Why won't you let us talk to the King?" Sokka demanded, "We have information that could defeat the Fire Nation!"

"The Earth King has no time to get involved in political squabbles and the day to day minutia of military activities," Long Feng retorted.

"This could be the most important thing he's ever heard!" Aang insisted.

"The most important thing to His Majesty is maintaining the cultural heritage of Ba Sing Se. All his duties relate to issuing decrees on such matters. It's my job to oversee the rest of the city's resources, including the military."

"So the King is just a figurehead," Katara gasped.

"He's your puppet!" Toph snapped.

"Oh, no, no!" Long Feng assured, "His Majesty is an icon, a god to his people. He can't sully his hands with the hourly changes of an endless war."

"No one here is buying your act," Tom insisted, "Why don't we just be frank? You know the Fire Nation almost got in just two days ago. The information we have could end the threat to your city permanently."

"You overestimate the threat that little nation of people pose to this city," Long Feng shot back. "And if we're being frank, let me tell you this; it is the strict policy that the war not be mentioned within the walls! Constant news of and escalating war would throw the citizens of Ba Sing Se into a panic. Our economy would be ruined, our peaceful way of life destroyed! In silencing talk of conflict, Ba Sing Se remains a peaceful orderly utopia. The last one on earth."

"You can't keep the truth from all these people," Katara insisted.

"I'll tell them! I'll make sure everyone knows!" Aang promised.

"Oh, please," Tom scoffed, "Everyone already knows. They're all just browbeaten into pretending they don't."

"And so what if they are?" Long Feng asked. "Until now you've been treated as honored guests in our city. But from now on you will be watched constantly by Dai Lee agents. If you even speak of one more seditious act, you will be expelled from the city. I understand your sky bison is recovering from some unfortunate injuries. It would be quite a shame if there were to be… complications."

"Is that a threat?!" Aang growled, a bluster of air adding to his tone.

"If that is all," Long Feng more informed than asked, "Joo Dee will show you home."

A woman with Joo Dee's clothes and hair stepped in, but when she turned to face them, Aang and company were in for a shock. "Come with me, please."

"What happened to Joo Dee?" Katara asked the total stranger who only bore a vague passing resemblance to the Joo Dee they had met on their first day in the city.

"I'm Joo Dee," the woman insisted with a plastered on smile, "I'll be your host as long as you're in our wonderful city."

* * *

><p>Well, that was a billion times better than I feared it would be. I really think I knocked this one out of the park in spite of putting myself in a stupid position with my schedule. Also, the next chapter is going to be one hundred percent original, so that'll be cool. I can use it to set up some stuff and don't have to worry about stupid little things that delay my working ahead on this. Now the only thing I have to overcome is laziness. Yeah, that's the tough one…<p> 


	44. Tales of Ba Sing Se: Tom

I am being exceptionally lazy and stupid with this one. I know what I want to write, I just haven't done it yet. I only need an hour or two, but that's also all I have. We'll see how this goes…

* * *

><p>After the failed attempt at seeing the Earth King, as well as the threat Long Feng leveled at them, Aang and company decided to play along for the time being. Until they came up with a new plan, there wasn't really anything they could do. The short carriage ride was conspicuously silent. The new Joo Dee tried to strike up a conversation as if nothing was wrong. She even asked how everyone had liked the party, but she was totally stonewalled. It was hard to tell if that left a crack in this new handler.<p>

It was really late, so everyone turned in almost right away after returning to their new home. Even with the little bit of excitement at the Earth King's party, the three consecutive days and nights of peace were more than welcome. Tom even managed to wake up at a reasonable hour he was so rested. As with the night before, since they didn't have any kind of plan to deal with Long Feng's grip on the city and the King, they all collectively decided not to do anything too rash. Yet.

That morning Katara convinced Toph to spend the day with her on a girl's day out and Aang wanted to have a look around the city. That left Tom and Sokka to pretty much wander around, looking for something to occupy them for the day.

Tom tried to let the soothing upper ring guardians and parks keep his anger in check, but he found himself seething. The million dollar question kept shoving away all other thoughts in his head. "What the hell am I doing here?" he growled to himself. For all he had tried to do, nothing seemed to be changing. The same roadblocks were stopping Aang and the others and his extra pair of hands weren't really changing anything.

And even more than that there was something that nagged at him. Feeling like you don't contribute to something big, whether you're right or not, isn't that strange a thing when you're feeling contemplative. The bigger problem was that he was in a **cartoon**! No matter how hard he tried not to, he couldn't help but see black outlines around everything that weren't there. The living breathing people could have just been two dimensional representations of life. And the worst part was that he was just waxing poetic. Had any of it been literal, the idea that he was just having a psychotic episode or something would have seemed more plausible.

It just seemed wrong to be there. And to have superpowers. This was all a fantasy world and Tom felt out of place participating in it. It didn't matter that he was used to the green parks or fancy clothes of the people he passed by. He'd been to China before, but everything about Ba Sing Se – the Earth Kingdom as a whole, even – was still as foreign as it could be.

Tom wandered for a few hours and eventually found himself in the lower ring. Maybe it was the density of people anchoring him somehow, but he felt more comfortable there. The marketplace he found himself in was friendly and safe enough. He decided to buy a few things on a whim. Some food to munch on as he continued to wander and a trinket or two he could use as a souvenir.

He was passing an alleyway when he heard someone yell from within. He followed the voice and saw a couple, probably refugees by the looks of them, surrounded by about a half a dozen rough looking thugs. The refugees seemed to be doing their best to defend a small basket of goods.

"Playing nice, kids?" Tom asked as he approached the scene.

The thugs turned to see the intruder. They didn't seem to take well to being called "kids" by someone much younger than them apparently. "Buzz off, you brat! This doesn't concern you!"

"Leave? Now? But I just found something to take my anger out on!" Not liking Tom's calm attitude, the closest of the thugs threw a wild punch at the firebender. The attack was easy to dodge, only needing a light lean out of the way made the thug overbalance and stumble past Tom. A quick kick to the back of the thug's knee made him crumble to the ground on the spot. "Jokes aside. If you don't want to hurt, leave. If you don't mind spending the next few months in a cast, let's get this party started."

The group charged Tom, but there wasn't anyone in the group who even seemed to have a lick of formal training. By focusing on avoiding their attacks, Tom was able to bring each of them down one by one. After breaking the leg of the last of the group, Tom turned and left the alleyway feeling at least a little bit better.

The couple followed Tom as he left, "I don't know how we could ever repay you!"

"Just try to be careful of secluded places like that," Tom told them, "There won't always be someone to save you."

They nodded, with tears in their eyes, thanking him again. What Tom had done had really mattered to them. Had he not been there, they would have been robbed. Probably roughed up too. That was something. And Appa wasn't suffering right now. He and Aang didn't have to deal with being apart. And there was Yue too. That was a life that would have been lost without Tom's intervention. Even the fact that the Canyon Guide was still ferrying people across the Great Divide mattered. That was all Tom could do. Make the most of the hand he was dealt. And now that he gave it a bit more thought, he wasn't doing that bad a job of it after all.

Tom was on his way back to the upper ring after the sun started to head down towards the far off mountains. He didn't have to deal with any more of the "lively" activities of the lower ring, but to his surprise, he was stopped by a strange group of people in the middle ring on his way home. He wasn't even sure who they were or what they wanted. Well, it seemed pretty obvious that they wanted a fight, but why escaped him.

After their aggression only earned a scoff from Tom, one of them went as far as to throw a punch. This guy wasn't like the thugs from the lower ring. He had good form, and Tom could tell it would hurt bad if it connected. He deflected the punch in time, shoving the attacker back and subtly hit him in the gut with an elbow as he was shoved back into his fellow hecklers. Almost too quickly, several Dai Lee agents appeared from the shadows. "Is there a problem here?"

"Come on, you coward!" one of the hecklers jeered, "Gimmie a real punch! Do it!"

Now Tom _knew_ there was something suspicious was going on. "You're trying to pick a fight with me right in front of the Dai Lee?" he asked out loud. A second later he put it together and chuckled, "Oh, I see. Tell your boss he'll have to try harder if he wants to kick us out of the city like this." With that, Tom just brushed past the Dai Lee agents (the ones out of uniform that were trying to pick a fight with him that is), and continued on his merry way home.

"How was your day?" Aang asked as Tom returned home.

"Not bad, all things considered," Tom admitted.

"Oh, good. By the way, where would Appa be right now if you weren't here?"

Tom looked up at the unexpected question, "Long Feng's supposed to have found and captured him, why?"

"Well, some weird guys were trying to lead him out of the yard when I got back here today. I figured that that's not something that's supposed to happen."

"You're right," Tom thought out loud. "And some Dai Lee tried to pick a fight with me to get me kicked out just a few minutes ago. Long Feng is really desperate to get rid of us."

"You think the people messing with Appa were Dai Lee?" Aang asked.

"I can't see anyone else doing it. We'll have to be careful of more traps."

Before the conversation could go any farther, Katara and Toph arrived home, made up from their girl's day out. "We'll talk more about this later," Aang told Tom. The firebender nodded. His knowledge may have made some changes for the good, but he had to be careful. His just being there may cause changes he could never predict. Things won't be exactly as he remembers them. And not all the changes will necessarily be for the better.

* * *

><p>A little annoyed how late it is, but I like this end product. This is pretty much what I thought it was going to be, so I'm happy with it. The Tales of Ba Sing Se episode is totally filler, but I wanted to do a little character development with it and set up the next chapter and another down the line. Hopefully I can do those ahead to avoid this nonsense again, but you know me. 'Till next time!<p> 


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